Insomniac, Alcoholic, and Insane?
by SadEcho
Summary: Imagine losing your most cherished friend after a fight. Then imagine not sleeping for nearly two weeks. Now add trying to drown your sorrows in alcohol. Maybe then you can start to feel the suffering Trafalgar Law is in. Will he be lost in the ruin of his own mind? Or will Eustass Kid bring him back? Rated M for language, violence, and substance abuse. Kid x Law
1. Chapter 1

**Authors Note:**

**Imagine loosing your most cherished friend after a fight. Then imagine not sleeping for nearly two weeks. Now add trying to drown your sorrows in alcohol. Maybe then you can start to feel the suffering Trafalgar Law is in. Will he be lost in the ruin of his own mind? Or will Eustass Kid bring him back? Rated M for langauge, violence, substance abuse and future events. Law x Kid**

"Those who make mistakes blame themselves and close their hearts. It's impossible to fix the mistake; men can't return to the past. That's why they drink. Lushes, drunks, sliding alcohol down their throats to try to dilute the memories that can't be forgotten" - Vash the Stampede

**This is not a song fiction. I do not own the song lyrics or the song. Song is owned by "The Ink Spots".**

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT own any One Piece characters.**

**Insomniac, Alcoholic, and Insane?**

The sour stench of various alcoholic brews and iron filled the dark and recently abandoned casino. Florescent lighting droned and flickered overhead in the low beige ceiling at spacious intervals. In the frail stuttering pools of poor light, chopped up chairs, tables, poker chips, pool tables, slot machines, and the usual casino trash could be seen littering the previously lively casino-motels thick carpeted floor. By the entrance near the doubled mahogany doors, inlaid with polished golden handles that had begun to fade with repeated use, a few unfortunate casino employees lay in pools of their own blood. They too had been reduced to shambles and their body parts were scattered around in discord. These sad few had not been swift enough in their retreat.

*Scriiitch* Unexpected sound cut through the curtain of muteness and permeated the deathly silence that had fallen over the casino-motel. Further in the back of the decimated building, a needle scratched against a vintage record player, one of the few surviving things that remained and had gone unnoticed in its ebony shrouded corner. The unexpected sound drew the lone dark-haired man from whatever stupor he had been in. He looked up from the amber liquid in his crystal shot glass to look towards the record player that was bathed in weak red light of a neon sign that read 'Go big or go home.'

He contemplatively titled the glass around in his tattooed fingers; skeletons of what had been ice cubes swirled around and made chiming noises against the crystal musically. Overhead the lights flickered rapidly and gave the liquor an electrified appearance. Finally the record settled in its player and a few lyrics made their way over to the sole inhabitant of the casino bar.

"_Oh I don't want to set the world on fire~_

_I just want to start *scratch*, a flame in your heart~"*scratch* *scritch*_

The old tunes lyrics were sharply cut off as the player began to emit its annoying scratches once more.

Tersely the man downed the last of his shot glass's contents and slammed the empty vessel into the counter while letting out a sharp exhale of frustration. Jagged crystal shards went flying off in several directions and blood began to pool along the bars dark scratched surface. Both went ignored.

'How ironic' the man thought to himself as he listened to the tune die out. 'My world managed to collapse in about two days, and it also feels like a piece of my heart was incinerated.' At first he thought so sarcastically, but his lungs tightened and his breath shuddered out of his throat in a heartbreakingly silent lament. It felt like he was choking or drowning and he just couldn't find the surface, dark waves relentlessly crashing him further into despair. 'How did things go south so quickly?' His hands reached, albeit shakily, for a new glass, a much larger one, and he helped himself to what appeared to be beer that was tucked away behind the abandoned barkeep and settled back on his squeaky bar stool.

He drained half of the tankard and then noticed the blood running down its side and through his long tan fingers. 'Interesting, I wonder if it's mine', he considered apathetically.

Low chains of anxious toned murmurs from outside reached his ears, muffled by the gilded mahogany of the front doors. 'Oh…must be my crew…' Coldness gripped his innards and he shuddered with another sharp ragged exhale that verged on being a sob. They, well one person, or bear rather, was the reason he was currently by himself and drinking to oblivion. 'I need to forget. I need to forget… I can't forget dammit!' He tipped the tankard back and tried to drink the remainder of his drink only to come up short and choke on the burning liquid.

Tears burned at his eyes as he tried to hack up the beer from his already constricted airways. His shoulders shuddered as he gave off agonized wheezes, the alcohol in his lungs giving off an effervescent crackle before settling down. Tan hands steepled his long inked fingers in front of his face, resting them against his forehead, the rest of his head covered in a spotted white furry hat. In the shadow the hat casted, his eyes were screwed shut but stray tears managed to escape.

Any outsider who saw the man, hunched over with his elbows propped on his knees, might have thought he was some poor wretched sinner praying for the forgiveness that they knew he would not receive. But they did not know this particular man. He wasn't the sort to pray.

'It shouldn't have ended over something so….stupid.' White teeth clenched together visibly in what would have easily passed for an expression of agony if the rest of the man's face could be seen. Silent, short, and shallow gasps shook his entire form, like breathing had become impossibly painful.

"Bepo…" he hissed through his teeth and bit on his already bruised and split lower lip till it bled anew, driblets of blood ran down his stubble covered chin and soaked into his small goatee. His body violently shuddered along with his inner turmoil, too far gone to recognize the corporal pain that had mostly been self-inflicted. No matter how hard he wanted to, he couldn't forget the series of events that had led to this unexpectedly devastating fallout between them, captain and first mate.

+~O~+

_13 days earlier_

Bepo had been ecstatic, certainly unusual for the shy and meek white bear, and had begged and pleaded with one Trafalgar Law with desperate enthusiasm. His crew had been shocked at first, but they all knew their captain had a certain soft spot for their timid first mate. The Heart Pirates looked on anxiously. If anyone had a chance at persuading their captain it was Bepo.

"Bepo are you really sure? He abandoned you, a freshly born cub, and your mother. He left you both for dead." Laws usual smile was gone and he fixed Bepo with his intense slate colored eyes, ever present dark marks underneath each eye making him look all the more deranged, till the bear began to squirm nervously.

Law recalled to them both how he had found Bepo, his mother dead from child birth and the father had abandoned both of them to that frigid wasteland. He had still been just a boy and out looking for ingredients, and possibly anatomy subjects. One pure white little snow bear covered in his own mother's blood wasn't what he had expected at all. It reminded the doctor of how he had also killed his own mother in childbirth. Needless to say the young doctor- to- be had been captivated instantly. The newborn cub had been wailing for who knows how long and had gone silent the moment the child in the lab coat had scooped the tiny creature up into the palms of his hands.

"Please Law, it's my father. He's sick and he needs help and he's my only family left."

Law growled deep in his throat, "You have family, me and the crew. You biological father is not even close to being family after he left you."

Large tears welled from the bears round dark eyes and Law immediately flinched back as if he'd been struck.

"Law *sniff* it's the right thing to do *sob*. P-Please help him", the bears voice trembled and snot had begun to run down the white fur of his face. "You're the greatest doctor I know. You're my best friend. Please…! Please, only you can save him!" The bear threw himself at the surgeon's feet; his furry face buried into Law's spotted jeans as he clung to the man's leg in a powerful embrace. Every single Heart Pirate watched for the doctor's reaction, not quite knowing what to expect from the Surgeon of Death.

Law looked down at this large white bear, his friend, the cub he had once been able to cradle in his hands. They had grown up together and had rarely been apart, he was considered the only family he had ever known and that had been enough. Seeing him this way made his heart thump painfully, his breath hitching in his throat, like a physical wound. Law reached up slowly, his tattooed hands trembling in rage, and tugged his furry hat over his eyes, his other hand clenched down at his side till the knuckles had gone white and the joints audibly groaned. His sharp white teeth could be seen in what looked like a wolfish grin.

Bepo and the crew cringed in mutely transfixed horror. Law had just done a nervous gesture that they all had come to know too well. When the doctor had pulled his hat over his face once before, he had become dangerously enraged to the point of berserker-like madness, endangering friend or foe alike. It wasn't easy in the first place to get the normally pensive captain vexed; something really had to really go out of its way to distraught him. It made the already deadly Heart Pirates Captain extremely dangerous.

"Fine…change course." Law took the opportunity to extract his leg from the stunned bears grasp and disappeared below deck without another word. The Heart Pirates had been holding their breath and even now they exhaled their relief inaudibly as the threat of their captains wrath seemed to retreat for the moment.

_12 days earlier_

By the next afternoon they had reached a small winter-island. Snow fell lazily in fat little hunks of flakes to gather around a small village's clustered buildings. Captain and first mate were rushed to a small house by some of the natives, mostly human's with an occasional bear humanoid. Apparently Bepo's father had reached critical condition and was literally in the process of dying when they had arrived at what had foolishly seemed just in time.

* * *

"Clamps."

Penguin passed his captain the surgical clamps. Shachi leaned over and whisked away the moisture that had collected on what was visible their captain's forehead, a surgical scrub cap had replaced the usual white spotted hat.

"Shit." Law murmured from behind his surgical mask. He was shoulder deep in a massive silvery white bears chest, struggling to get the defective heart artery sewn shut.

When he had arrived he quickly deduced, from his own observations and the natives reports, that Bepo's father had a rare form of heart disease that had greatly disfigured the aorta, the main artery that leaves the heart. He knew it was a death sentence and he was only prolonging the inevitable, but it had to be done for Bepo's sake.

Bepo had been banned from the surgery room. 'Emotions will only get in the way, if you want your father to live you will wait outside', Law had told him.

Dark blood sprayed from the defective organ and splattered the surgeon with gore. His two assistants couldn't help but flinch back while their captain had not moved a muscle. Warning rings of a machine indicated the bears vitals were plummeting.

"Needle."

He didn't look up from the blood gushing viscera and felt someone brush past his arm and push the tool into his awaiting palm. Steel toned eyes tracked the needles movements through the cardiac tissue, deftly suturing the major artery's walls closed in seconds. Satisfied beeps announced the vitals beginning to stabilize, but they weren't out of the woods yet.

* * *

Hours went by and the Heart Pirates waited outside the operating room alongside a very anxious bear. Bepo paced restlessly in the small space of the house that had been lent for the procedure. His sensitive bear nose twitched uncomfortable at the rusty smell of blood flooding out of the room in a sickening haze. The Heart Pirates began to grumble, unsettled by their captains long exodus in the operating room.

The operating doors slammed opened expelling several natives dressed in operation smocks, gloves, and masks with bloody rags piled up high in their arms as they ran past the Heart Pirates and out another door. Their hurried steps squeaked against the polished floor. Pinkish smears were left behind. Several of the crew made quiet noises of distress. Something was wrong. It should not be taking so long. Bepo gnawed on his sharp claws, his large foot paws shuffled in worry.

Everyone stiffened as they heard the subdued voice of their captain shouting out orders from behind the closed doors. Then everything went noticeably quite. No one moved. Everything grew still. They held their breaths, not breathing in the air that was riddled with apprehension and the harsh tang of coppery iron that stung at the back of their throats and noses.

Ominous creaking announced Penguins presence as he poked his head out through the operating doors. "Bepo, the captain says he needs you in the Operating Room now. Please hurry."

Everyone's eyes fell on the white first mate, whose fur visibly bristled and stood on end making him look several times larger despite the shaking. Bepo hurriedly shuffled forward on numb paws, his front appendages clenched near his chest. Penguin discretely let the bipedal bear in through an opening just large enough for the first mate to squeeze by.

* * *

His eyes were drawn to Law's turned back standing in front of the operating table with several blood packets scattered around. Over his captains shoulder he could see the silvery white head of his father peeking up from slightly bloody sheets that had been drawn up to his chin.

Law raised a glove covered arm, seemingly drenched in dark red all the way up to the shoulder from what could be seen of his slightly silhouetted form, to gesture his first mate over without looking at him.

Bepo stumbled past Law and fell to his knees by his father's side. Cloudy black eyes looked at the bear whose fur was silver with age, not seeming to be able to focus past tears that had welled up.

"Dad…"

The elder bear let out a pained wheeze. "Don't call me that. I'm not your father. Not after what I've done."

Bepo swallowed deep in his throat and opened his mouth to speak when his father raised a paw to cut him off.

"I left you, you and your mother *Cough*. I don't deserve to be called a father." The silvery white bear hacked and wheezed a bit more before he continued. "I couldn't raise you knowing I would just die from this heart disease. I foolishly thought it would be a much less cruel fate if I let you die in the wilderness without seeing your old man die slowly and not being able to care for you." Bepo's father managed a weak smile before his eyelids fluttered shut and his body ushered out its final exhale that came all too soon. Bepo froze, so full of regret and shock he was left speechless.

Law watched the pair in silence, glancing at the bloodied instruments and packets scattered around the room, and stripped off his gloves. Many of the native bears had been gracious enough to donate blood to their cause. He was lucky the native bears didn't seem to have various blood types like their human counterparts. Not that it made much difference when the bear would and had died regardless. Yet he couldn't help the cold feeling of failure that stabbed at him maliciously.

'You failed Trafalgar.'

'There was nothing I could do. The bear was as good as dead when we arrived.'

'You let your cherished friend down.'

'Nothing could have saved Bepo's father. He was too far gone…'

'You should have done better. No, you could have done better; you just didn't want the competition of Bepo's real father.'

'I did EVERYTHING that was mortally possible. I may not like the bastard who abandoned Bepo, but I still have my honor as a doctor!'

'Doctor? Yet you can't even save one life. Pathetic… Well done Surgeon of Death.'

'Shut up…just SHUT UP! I will NOT fall into the madness again!'

'It is not madness. It is your nature. I am part of you.'

Law violently ripped the surgeons cap off his head, sending droplets of sweat to fly through the iron tainted air. His damp, short, and spikey black hair stuck out at chaotic angles and steam billowed from his heated skull into the cold winter-island climate. He could feel his body shaking, throbbing with a pulse that left his entire body trembling. An erratically beating heart caged inside his chest pumped burning lifeblood that scorched him from head to toe. He began to feel like he was asphyxiating and tore off the surgical mask with loud snaps as the ties at the back broke, letting it fall to the cold tiled floor.

He was so fixated with his own inner struggle he hadn't noticed when Bepo had gotten to his feet. Bepo turned around, his face void of tears and expressionless. He was broken. Law's heart tore at the sight.

Bepo's dark eyes began to focus on his captain who was covered in blood and gore till everything but his shaggy head was stained a dark grisly red. Steam curled off his dark jagged locks giving him a sinister appearance. Steel gray eyes, the shadows underneath each made to contrast sharply against his skin in the bright operating lights, looked at him with a haunted and hollow stare. 'The Surgeon of Death.'

The only warning Trafalgar Law got was his first mates coal black eyes washing over with a blood red hue at an alarming rate. One fur cover fist slammed into the pirate captain's jaw with enough force behind it to send his lanky body crashing through the operating doors and out into the lobby. Law's trajectory had him skidding across the polished wooden floors where he landed on his back winded.

Gasps from his crew reminded him of the Heart Pirates who had been waiting just outside the operating room. They noted their captains stunned expression, his eyes wide with gray iris's dominating the pupils that were contracted till they were barely discernible, as he lay on his back staring up at the ceiling. Laws usual smile was gone with a slightly gaping frown in place.

Bepo stomped over to his captain still lying on the floor and roughly grabbed him by the front of his bloody smock. All of the teddy bear like meekness was gone, only a full grown and angry predator remained. His eyes glazed over with bloodlust. He lifted the doctor up till the surgeon was several feet off the ground and at the bear's eye level.

Warm breath from the bear's face that was inches from his own hit Law. Through his shock he finally noticed a pain blossoming near his mouth and he raised a tattooed hand to find a split lip with blood gushing out. His other hand had ghosted out to grip the furry arm that was latched on to the front his stained smock.

"Bepo…Why?"

A savage roar made the doctor flinch in the white bears grasp. "YOU LET HIM DIE!" Bepo hurled his captain into the nearest wall, cracks erupting around Law from the force.

The Heart Pirates gasped in horror. Their mild mannered first mate was _fighting _with their captain, who now pried himself out of the crumbling wall to stand up. Law stood, seemingly not shaken at all; with his head bowed staring at the ground. Blood rolled down the bridge of his nose and tattooed forearms to drip on the wooden floor accusingly. One of his tattooed hands, the word ' Death' spelled out across his long fingers, came up to his jaw and there was a rapid yet sickening series of clicks and pops as the doctor relocated his own mandible. He did not even cringe or hesitate at what should have been excruciating for any man.

Laws bleeding countenance broke out into a malicious grin; sharp canines glinting in the room's candlelight. Molten steel orbs, dark openings of the eyes completely vanishing, bore into the white bear with a look that made the rest of the Heart Pirates whimper in fear. 'He's completely lost it.'

"You know what Bepo," Law paused and chuckled to himself as if he had found something terribly amusing. "I should have just let your old man die." This time the doctor's mouth twisted into a tight lipped frown. His first mate still trembled with rage although the bear had halted his assault.

"He was already dead when we got here…I knew there was no point in trying to forage an already disease devastated aorta that was too far gone. It had not even gone treated after all this time. But I just couldn't help myself... if it was for you then surely it was fine… "Law wheezed out a low humorless laugh and raised a hand to his face, his gray eyes glazed over in a foggy haze.

Bepo could see the sudden change in his captain as he himself came out of his blood wrath induced madness. He wondered if what Law had said was true, or if it was just mindless banter. But also maybe he should run. All the Heart Pirates had come to know and fear their captain's deeply hidden madness that lay just underneath the calm surface. It was a seemingly serene little iceberg that floated on cold waters, but large jagged ice was hidden just below and would sink any passerby in an instant.

"But it's fine. You wanted to be with your father. The least I can do is kill you and send you to him."

Bepo became rigid; no other sound in the world reached his ears except for his own heart beat that was far too loud. His pulse thundered behind his eardrums and his lungs forgot how to function as they were clenched in a thorny embrace of fear. Laws words were icy and detached as the captain shifted his inked hands and uttered the words that had taken countless lives before his. "Room: Sha-"

"CAPTAIN, DON'T!" Sachi and Penguin yelled in unison as they tackled their captain to the ground. Shachi had grabbed Laws legs while Penguin had dived in and wrapped his arms around the doctor's chest. Sobs shook both of their bodies as they hung on for dear life.

"P-please captain, you don't want to do this," Shachi sobbed and buried his tearful face into Laws legs.

"Captain, please think of what you are doing! Bepo means too much for you to simply kill him in such a mindless way!" Penguin yelled hoarsely, trying to reason with the distraught man.

At first Law just lay there, stunned at what he had been about to do and at how far he had allowed the madness to take over. He had just nearly killed his best friend, and probably would have succeeded in wiping out most of the town, and possibly his crew, in his delusional state. Roughly, he pushed the two crew mates off of himself and stood up.

Penguin and Shachi cringed and prepared themselves for the worst, but when it never came they looked up in apprehension. Their captains face looked pained, a heavy frown in place of his trademark smirk and his slate gray solemn irises looking like a rainy sky.

Bepo took a stumbling step towards his captain but was stopped by Laws raised hand.

"Don't come near me. I can't stand the sight of your face right now." Laws voice was a full octave lower than normal and the undertone held a sorrowful grate. He pulled the bloodied smock over his head and threw it on the ground. The captain turned around and made his way out of the building, leaving in just his operating scrub pants and boots. Law walked out into the cold winter air, leaving his crew to stare after him in a shocked hush.

Large clusters of flakes swirled around in the darkness and enveloped the heart pirates in its muffling whiteness. The hushed night feigned calmness, but the harsh reality was obscured in the dark and heavy snowfall.

+~O~+

**Sub Authors note:**

**-I started righting this before I had even seen the character Trafalgar Law in the anime. He was just that fascinating to me. So possible out of characterness.**

**-Slight AU since there is no proof of Laws insanity; I just added it for plot purposes. Also not sure if some of the technology mentioned would be in the One Piece Universe.**

**Review so I can see if anyone actually interested in this story :P. It also makes me happy.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Insomniac, Alcoholic, and Insane?**

**Ch.2**

+~O~+

_**Present time**_

Various screams of terror filled the night air. Low barks and shouts, the base tones of men, trying to create order among chaos. Women wailed and shrieked as they clamored about, looking to keep their family and children safe. Babies screamed in distress, not knowing why their caretakers emitted such a panic filled aura. It frightened them; those who were meant to protect them reeked of fear.

A sanguine sky stretched over the ocean, matching a tall redhead's spikey crown of locks perfectly. Flames from the nearby town lit up the choppy waters and were reflected in the own man's vermilion eyes. Restless waves knocked up against the blackened silhouettes of the people's boats. The ocean was an orange-red backdrop. It glittered dangerously around the huddled masses as they fled from their burning home, reflecting the horde of flames that burned on the nearby island.

All of this only served to annoy the pale redheaded man observing from his own vessel. He and his crew had come to stop at the resort island, famous for its large casino-hotel, and stock up on supplies. Most people do not take kindly to pirates docking in their town, but he had been looking forward to taking what he wanted by force. Seeing these weak willed people flee in blind terror in their own little boats from their wretched island made him disgusted with their pathetic lives.

One of the small vessels drew closer, a grizzly old man, a middle-aged woman with a babe in her arms, and a small child was seated in its flimsy bottom. The old man looked up at the redheaded man and called out, "Hey, you! Pirate! It is best if you leave here. A demon has fallen on this place."

Dark purple lips parted to form a vicious sneer, the white teeth gleaming in unconcealed animosity. "I do not need to fear any so called _demon._", the pale man voiced with utter contempt dripping off his words.

The elderly man flinched at the dark intensity that came from the muscular pirate. He secretly hoped they had not fled their own homes just to fall to another monster at sea. "Sir, Please. I was just trying to warn you. Whatever has destroyed our home has a power that is most unnatural. Dismembered bodies would continue to run about as if they were still alive, even without their heads or limbs! Then the demon would rip out their hearts from their bodies, letting them watch while they were still whole and crushing them as it saw fit. No matter how strong you may be, I fear nothing can overcome it."

Burnt orange eyes glared at him, threating to burn a hole through him with an intensity that matched the inferno blazing on the nearby island. "Then run while you can. If you are still here when my crew begins the raid, I will end you without a shred of mercy. You weaklings leave. I'm taking supplies from this place, demon or not."

Gulping audibly, the old man retreated into the night. Not even sparing a glance back at the island that had been his, and the generations before him, lifelong home.

"Captain Kid", a subdued voice from behind the red-haired pirate called.

The pale man's fur coat billowed from his shoulders as he turned around to face the other man addressing him. A blue and white striped mask greeted him; blond stubble was just visible in the dying light on the jaw resting underneath. "Killer", the captain said simply, waiting for his first mate to speak.

"I assume we are still going to land on this island and attempt to restock our supplies before heading out to the next", Killer spoke.

"If you are asking if I believe in what that shitty old man said, then I don't give a fuck. We are stopping here. If this _demon _tries toget in our way then I will destroy It.", Kid growled as he waved his hand to dismiss the very idea of a demon, and his first mate, off.

+~O~+

Only the crackling of flames could be heard in the eerie silence. Even the wind had stilled. The moonless sky hung over the seemingly abandoned town, clear and pierced with countless stars despite the fires light. Columns of smoke twisted up into the night air like tall wraiths breaking free from the decimated buildings, filing the town with its bitter smell. Even the Kid Pirates, hardened as they were, felt unsettled by the oppressive atmosphere. It was not the state of the destroyed town that bothered them, but the lack of people. They were accustomed to townspeople and pirates alike screaming and fleeing in panic at their arrival.

Captain Kid looked on as his crew shuffled among the wrecked buildings that were not on fire. So far their search for supplies had bought them limited success. Hearing a call from his right, he turned his gaze so it fell upon his masked first mate running up to him.

"Captain, I have found some of the Heart Pirates camped outside a casino-motel."

"Heart Pirates," Kid echoed while arching a nonexistent eyebrow, "Are you sure they are here? We didn't see their ship when we docked in the harbor." When Killer nodded his affirmation he asked, "Did they see you?"

"Yes, but they made no move to attack. They are behaving almost as if they are guarding that place. As for their ship it could be hiding underwater."

Narrowing his eyes in thought, Kid turned his body around to stare in the direction his first mate had originally came from. "Why would they guard a piece of shit casino? Has their creepy captain given them any orders?"

"I did not see the Heart Pirate's captain. Perhaps he is inside the building."

Kid scratched underneath the band of his goggles that rested on his forehead. He turned back towards his first mate with a fearsome expression in place that resembled a tyrannical glower. "Cancel the search for supplies and gather the rest of the crew. We are going to go knock and say hello. Since those Heart Pirates have already ruined our fun here they can pay us back." Kid said, grinning maliciously at the thought of violence to come. "It should be fun after wasting our time searching through their mess."

+~O~+

"Penguin, the Kid Pirates are coming back! They brought the rest of their crew with them this time!" Shachi yelled as he came running from the courtyards entrance. The rest of the Heart Pirates stirred restlessly at those words, nervously shuffling their feet on the cobblestone and turf inlaid yard.

"Shit!... Of all the people that could have shown up… why does it have to be that guy!?" Penguin cursed in distress. He tugged at the flaps of his bonnet-like-hat in worry.

Ever since their captain had fallen into his maddened state they had not been able to approach him without fear of their own lives. Now they were stuck waiting outside the casino-motel. For the Kid Pirates to show up while the Heart Pirates were left without their captain was spelling sure disaster. While they were stronger than most men, it was their captain who had kept them alive in the dangerous New World all this time. With Law indisposed at the moment, they felt their vulnerability as clearly as venturing into a blizzard without a coat on. It was only a matter of time before the frostbite set in.

"S-Should we go get the captain?" a crewmember voiced uneasily.

"Only if you want to end up dead like the rest of those poor fools", Penguin replied gravely as he indicated one of the dismembered bodies near the entrance. He shook his head sadly and chewed on his lower lip. Since Bepo and his captain were both absent the chain of command had fallen to him; Penguin was not enjoying it in the slightest. "We will have to do this ourselves. Get ready for a fight and don't let them inside no matter what."

Should the enemy happen to get past them, they were worried it would send Law into a fit. They were not worried for the Kid Pirates, but for themselves. It would be their own fault if they allowed anyone to incur the wrath of the Surgeon of Death. "Tsk, if only Bepo was here", Penguin muttered in anxiety.

Bepo had been left to guard their ship and move it to a more secluded side of the island. This was meant to keep both their ship and the first mate out of harm's way from their captain's fury. But their plan apparently had a tragic flaw.

"Penguin they are here", Shachi said nervously, making his speech waver on the last bit.

A deep voiced shout reached Penguins ears, sending cold fingers of dread ostensibly caressing down his spine. This was it.

"You, penguin-hat, where is your captain?" the commanding voice uttered, its dark tone echoing loudly in the devastated remains of the town as the source of the voice drew nearer to the casino as its owner spoke. Splotch patterned pants and dark heavy boots came into focus, followed by a pale muscular torso with a heavy fur coat with spiked shoulders. The owners face was set into an animalistic smirk as the goggles around his fiery hair cast images of the burning town on its glass lenses.

It was Eustass Captain Kid.

Penguin's legs shook violently despite the brave face he pulled. Many of the Kid Pirates laughed harshly, but the Heart Pirates grew rigid at the sound and took up defensive stances around Penguin and the casino entrance. "I- I'm afraid he is not available at the moment. If you have any business with him then you can speak to me about it", Penguin replied quickly as he could despite his shaking.

The red-haired pirate's eye twitched dangerously, and his first mate wisely took a few steps away from his captain. "Not available? This isn't a fucking house call!" Kid roared, veins bulging from his neck, as flecks of spittle based foam flew from his darkened lips.

Penguin flinched and what was visible of his face went pale. "Eh-Either way, you can see him right now", Penguin insisted a little weakly as he pulled at his jumpsuits collar as if it was suddenly hot outside.

Captain Kid's eyes fell on the metal clasp that held the penguin-hat man's jumpsuit closed. His smirk twisted back onto his face and he stretched out his arm towards the unfortunate man. His magnetic devil fruit powers had the man flying towards him in a heartbeat.

A strangled shriek escaped from Penguin's lips as he suddenly felt his whole body pitch forward as if someone had grabbed him by the front of his collar. His heart leaped into his throat, which only served to further choke him as his neck was suddenly seized in Captains Kid's ruthless grip. Frantically he grabbed at the taller man's arm, his feet kicking the air wildly as he struggled to break free.

"Penguin!" Shachi yelled in horror. Blindly he ran towards his shipmate. The sole purpose of saving Penguin clouded his better judgment. Shachi was sent sprawling into the dirt as a heavy weight landed squarely between his shoulder blades, sending clouds of dust into the air and knocking out what little breath he had in his lungs. Stars filled his vision but he tried to rise up again only for the weight to become more insistent. Then a large curving blade was abruptly encompassing his field of vision and pressed to his neck above his high collar.

"Well done Killer", Kid grinned over at Shachi and Killer, the latter currently pinning the Heart Pirate down. His cinnabar eyes turned back towards Penguin. Shaking the man roughly by the neck till he was sure he heard a few vertebrae pop, he growled out, "Now where is your captain hiding?"

Penguin barely contained the whimper that had started to rise in his overly tight chest. His breathing had turned rapid and shallow, panic slowly but surely taking root. Sweat could be felt rolling down his back, sticking to the material of his jumpsuit and gathering under his hat. It felt like the muscles in his neck were about to snap from the red-haired captains brutality. But he had to be strong. He must endure. His crewmates were counting on him. Wheezing air and coughs escaped as he tried to speak around the hand constricted around his throat like a steel vice. Penguin's strained vocal cords only managed to grate out a firm, "No."

Kid felt the muscles in the Heart Pirates throat labor beneath his hand as Penguin utter that single defiant word. Without batting an eye he hurled the man to the ground in his silent rage. He was pissed beyond the point of words.

Penguin, what he inferred from the shouts of the Heart Pirates, landed harshly on his back, gasping for air through his punished throat. Mercilessly he planted a booted foot on the man's sternum, pushing till the pirate let out a sharp cry of agony and clawed at his leg till he felt the smaller man's short nails scrabbling at the fabric. Subtle crackling noises could just be heard over the thundering sound of Penguins tortured voice.

"Penguin!" Shachi screamed. He surprised Killer by giving a desperate but strong buck of his hips to dislodge him from his back as he threw back his arm to elbow the man in the ribs. He heard a surprised grunt from the other man but he was already moving to save his shipmate. Scrambling from his hands and knees he managed to make it a few steps before he felt something clamp onto his ankle, tripping him till he crashed into the hard ground again. Before he could so much as lift his head, his face was smashed back into the dirt with what he could feel was a large hand against the back of his skull. Blood began pouring out of his crushed nose, choking him with the sudden pool it formed. Shachi managed to turn his head to the side and spit of a mouthful of gritty dirt. He furiously glared up at the masked man even as hot tears rolled down his dirt covered face, mingling along with the crimson gushing out. "Penguin," he sobbed quietly, trembling with a surge of despair. His nakama was still in danger. He had to do something. Shachi began struggling again only to be stopped by the man pinning him down.

"Just stay down and I won't have to kill you," Killer whispered through the holes in his mask so it was only audible to the man trapped underneath him. Unlike his captain, he had learned to avoid unnecessary slaughter. Shachi stiffened underneath him but lay still as the curved blade inched dangerously close to his fluid covered face.

The rest of the Heart Pirates roared, "Penguin! Shachi!" Their crew members were being beaten to a pulp right before their eyes. Even if Law wasn't here to back them up, they wouldn't just watch as their nakama were killed right before their eyes. They began to charge the Kid Pirates only to be stopped by a broken and hoarse cry.

"STOOOOOOOPP!" Penguin roared, his voice cracking from the force. Even from his place on the ground he could make out his crewmates skidding to a shocked halt. He heard several of shouts from his crew mates yelling something in confused and anxious voices.

Many of the Heart Pirates looked on uneasily, torn between the sights of two of their members about to be killed by the Kid Pirates, and guarding the building that loomed behind them.

"Stop", Penguin repeated more softly, tears beginning to enter into his voice. Unchecked sobs finally broke free from his chest as twin streams flowed down what was visible his distraught face. But he continued, Penguin's voice swelling in strength with each word. "Even if I die here, you must not let them pass. If they were to get by you then it would mean the death of every single person on this island."

A cold wind moaned through the abandoned streets over the town, its haunting note sending an escalating chill over both of the crews as the words of the man froze them to the spot.

"I would gladly die here if it would mean saving countless others, Heart Pirates _or_ Kid Pirates! If it's just my life then let everyone else live!" Penguin roared through his tears, his determined voice reverberating through the crowd of men and out into the distraught town.

Frowning deeply at the sobbing wretch beneath his foot, Kid looked down at Penguin with no clear expression on his face as he considered what the Heart Pirate could have possibly meant by those foreboding words.

What could possibly be so dangerous that it could wipe out two entire pirate crews, the crews of supernova's no less. Where was the Heart Pirate captain and why wasn't he here when a pair of his shipmates was in danger? Should Kid even risk endangering his crew with the unknown threat that lay within that building? For all he knew the place could be rigged with a bomb, filled with poison, or be some elaborate trap that the navy had set up.

"What are you hiding, _Penguin_?" Kid finally asked as he removed his foot off of the tear stained man.

"DON'T! You can't let him know! What if-…what if…"Shachi interrupted, trailing off at the end. He couldn't find the words to express his thoughts without revealing too much information.

Penguin understood the unfinished question though. He didn't even turn his head to look at his crewmembers. Instead he stared right up at Eustass Kid from underneath the shadow of his hat. "Shachi… our captain will die anyways if he cannot… return to us." He chose those words carefully. Revealing any more information than necessary would be disadvantageous, especially in this situation. "There's no harm in telling them if it means _someone_ leaves this place alive." Carefully Penguin sat up, gasping as his rib cage gave off an unpleasant ripple of crackling noises. He held his sides gingerly as he scooted away from the red-haired man with his feet to create space between them. A prompt in the form of a searing glare from the enemy captain was sent his way.

"Our captain, Law, is currently in fragile state of mind," Penguin finally complied, frowning at the red-haired captain with nothing short of dislike.

Kid snorted and rolled his eyes, his look saying, 'How is that any different from usual?'

Staring reproachfully at the red-haired captain, Penguin gave an annoyed huff through his nose. " As I was saying… after a particular incident, our captain has not slept in, what we believe to be, at least eleven days and twelve nights."

At this Kid's eyes widened in shock. How could a person go that long without sleeping? Quite suddenly he could all to well sympathize with his fellow supernova. He himself had gone four days without sleeping once, and at the end of those days he had felt like ripping his hair out from the lack of sleep. Distinctively Kid remembered that he had become so tired that his body had ached till he had wanted to vomit.

"Why hasn't he slept?" Kid abruptly asked with genuine curiosity, surprising both his men and the Heart Pirates with the question.

Penguin stared at Kid with a look of complete bewilderment. Was it just his imagination or had he actually asked a question as if he cared for their captain. Even if he did care he couldn't exactly tell Kid how Law had gone into a deranged rampage because of a certain nasty fallout between nakama.

"Well…that is kind of personal. You would have to ask him yourself." Penguin finally supplied, chewing on his lip with worry. There was no chance of speaking with his captain. Not when it meant your certain death if you disturbed the surgeon.

"Fine."

Penguin gasped, his mouth gaping in disbelief. "Did you not hear a word I said?! Our captain is extremely sleep deprived! His cognitive functions and reasoning are severely compromised! Law has already killed enough people in his delusional state! If you go in there you risk all of our lives! He _will _kill you! Then he will proceed to kill the rest of us once he gets around to it!"

"Well what the fuck were you going to do before I got here then? Were you pansy asses just going to stand outside this lame as fuck casino all day while you sit in your own shit waiting for Trafalgar to magically fix himself?!" Kid growled dangerously, his dark purple lips pulling back to reveal clenched teeth.

This time all of the Heart Pirates visibly flinched at the harsh words, made all the harsher because they carried some truth behind them. But what could they do?

"I don't know", Penguin replied, his tone was painfully honest and tainted with defeat. Tears freely rolled down his face again as he sniffled quietly.

Kid looked away from the Heart Pirate. Crying men always made him uneasy for some reason. He thought it might be because he associated the strange outburst of emotion with women. Even as a child he had never cried. The action was foreign to him, odd even. But maybe it was because he had been raised entirely alone and didn't know how to cry. No one had taught him how to. Surely it wasn't a self-taught skill?

Sighing heavily while avoiding looking directly at the weeping pirate, Kid said, "What if I went in there and straightened him out? I'm the only one here strong enough to face him. The rest of you and my crew can leave in case things go wrong."

"You would just try and kill him", Penguin choked out from between sobs. He bit his lips as he tried to hide the rest of his face by pulling down on the flaps of his hat.

The red-haired man stood quietly, long enough that Penguin was beginning to wonder if he was simply not bothering to deny it. But then Eustass Kid muttered, "…killing my enemy while he is weak just doesn't sound very fun." Kid crossed his arms against his muscular chest as he glared at the man from the corner of his deep orange-red eyes.

Something between a squeak of surprise and a hitch of breath sounded from Penguin. Rapidly he rubbed away his tears, staring at the enemy captain in shock. "Why would you help us?"

Kid scratched at the side of his head as he stared towards the large building that apparently housed his fellow supernova. Ever since their meeting at Sabaody Arpeggio, he had gained a certain kind of respect for the captain. Before then he had never imagined that a doctor would be such a dangerous fighter. Doctors were supposed to be weak, but Law was a terror on the battlefield. Marines had literally been sent screaming away from the Surgeon of Death. All of those qualities were quite admirable in his eyes. Too bad he was fucking creepy and had no manners.

"If he's as dangerous as you say, what's stopping him from coming out right now and killing us in one fell swoop? You Heart Pirates sure haven't thought any of your shit out."

Penguin swallowed heavily before he shakily answered, "I suppose you have a point. But I want your word that you won't try and take our captains life."

Without hesitation, Kid extended his arm towards Penguin. The Heart Pirated ogled at his outstretched hand for a moment before carefully taking it in a firm grip.

"Deal", they echoed each other as their joint hands shook one in agreement.

"Captain Kid, are you really going to go in there? You would be entering the den of a mad man." Killer asked, at some point he had removed himself from Shachi, who stood off to the side brushing dirt from his cream colored jumpsuit. "There is no need to endanger your own life for the sake of an enemy."

"Yes, but I am not risking my life, and certainly not for the likes of an enemy. Law is my _rival_ and I _will _be comingback alive. There's no fucking way a cranky doctor, who hasn't taken his nap, will take me out," Kid scoffed scornfully. "Go, take the crew back to the ship and wait for me there."

When Killer made no move to leave, Kid narrowed his eyes at his first mate, knowing exactly why the masked man was hesitating. "I'll be fine. Just go already. There's no point in a sacrificial lamb if the rest you stupid sheep stick around to get slaughtered."

Killer knew those last words had just been a sarcastic jab towards him, intentionally setting off his protective instincts that screamed for him to act. His captain knew that he was loyal to a flaw. Any threat towards his captain he met with absolute opposition. Nothing would get in Kid's way if he had anything to do with it. "Yes…Captain", he replied, just barely containing the reluctance in his voice.

Kid watched as both of the crews gradually headed out, the Kid Pirates leading the way since the Heart Pirates flocked around their two injured shipmates. After the last pirate had filed out of the court yard, he turned his attention the large casino motel, the place were a crazed supernova lurked. His heavy booted steps sounded overly loud in the abandoned yard. He stalked up the stone stairs till he stood just outside the mahogany doors. 'If anything, this should at least be fun.'

With that thought in mind, Captain Kid pushed his way through the doors, stepping into the dark space that held unseen, but certain danger.

+~O~+

**Sub authors note: **

**I realized I don't ask for reviews nicely when I'm going through insomnia. So ill try again x_x... review please?. Hopefully this chap kind of made you realize why Law is so terribly…yeah, but you ain't seen nuthin' yet! Sorry I beat Sachi and Penguin up…they will be ok. I think.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Insomniac, Alcoholic, and Insane?**

**Ch.3**

+~O~+

Creaking ominously on their hinges, the mahogany doors swung inwards, emitting Eustass Kid as he quietly stepped into the threshold of the building. Cautiously he shut the doors behind him. What little offering of light the starry sky had given was lost as the doors sealed themselves shut.

Kid's vermillion eyes blinked slowly, trying to adjust to the dimly lit interior. From what he could see, the only source of light was the feeble flickering of dying fluorescent lights above. It was as like being in a cave, he couldn't even see the floor in front of him. But he could smell something stale hanging in the in the air along with the sharp scent of alcohol. The first scent was somehow familiar, but Kid couldn't quite put his finger on it. If he had to guess, it reminded him of meat that had started to go bad in the fridge.

Cautiously he began to move forward in the darkness, but his booted foot hit something, sending the unknown object rolling outwards to one of the lit up areas. Flickering lights revealed that it was a decapitated head, cleanly cut from its shoulders, staring at him with the clouded over and glassy eyes of the dead. So that had been the smell. Kid did his fair share of killing but he never hung around long enough to smell the bodies start to go bad. But the corpses puzzled him. From what Kid had seen at Sabaody, Law's ability did not kill the target instantly.

*_Sccrriiiittchh_* Something that sounded like a dying animal trying to claw its way out of a box made of chalk boards reached Kids ears. Pulling a pained grimace, Kid winced at the teeth grinding sound and covered his ears with his hands. Suddenly the heinous scratching stopped. Instead a warbling voice from another time reached his abused ears that he recognized as a recording from its mechanically altered tone. Kid let his hands slowly fall to his sides as his eyes began scanning the shadows. Red light from a neon sign in the corner lit up the source of the sound, a record player that had stopped its scratching to begin emitting the old tune.

"_In my heart I have but one desire~_

_And that one is you~_

_No other will d- "_

The music was abruptly cut off as a blue film in the shape of a dome appeared, thankfully far away from the red-haired man. Kids eyes widened in transfixed awe as the object was suddenly minced into thousands of bits. They stayed suspended in the air as if held up by their own tiny galaxy, gently spinning and turning as if held underwater, but as soon as the film had appeared it was gone in a matter of seconds. Those countless pieces hung in the air for a few moments until they caught up with the physics of this world, falling to the ground in a pile of rubble and dust as the film vanished.

Kid had not even realized that he had been holding his breath; even now he hardly dared to let it go. That was certainly Trafalgar Laws devil fruit power, but it had never been so…thorough. If he had not seen the record player for himself then there would have been no way to distinguish what the object was. If that had been a person then they would have had no hope of putting themselves back together, or they would go insane from trying. Just the very thought of it made Kids blood turn into iced sludge. Not only that, but the doctor was nowhere to be seen. The destructive force that was Law was lurking somewhere in the darkness. He could be anywhere. Why hadn't Kid heard Law's voice when he had created the 'operating room'?

Eustass Kid was starting to realize why the Heart Pirates had chosen to stay away. He had walked right into a situation that was worse than any trap could have ever hoped to be.

Something flew a few feet past Kids ear with a high pitched whistle as its velocity had it crashing into the wall behind him, shattering with the distinct sound of glass. He would have jumped out of his skin from the sudden attack but even as the sharp pieces flew from the wall, cutting into his pale skin, Eustass Kid was diving for cover. Kid hurriedly scrabbled behind the remains of a gambling table that had been sliced into halves, bits of detritus scraped at his bare palms, wooden and metal fragments biting into his skin. His rapid heart thumping behind his eardrums and his breathing were far too loud in the dead silent casino.

Kid tensed, waiting for the inevitable follow-up attack from his hidden adversary, but it never came. Should he risk moving to locate the other man? Law could simply be waiting for him to reveal himself; then Kid would be a sitting duck. He couldn't use his devil fruit abilities or he would reveal his own position to the unseen threat, if he had not already been discovered. If Kid was going to succeed in this crazed mission he needed to find Law before Law found him.

Careful not to make a sound, Kid rearranged his body till he was on his hands and knees. Looking warily out into the gloom, he held his breath as he tried to listen for any hints that would give away the surgeons whereabouts. Besides the fluorescent lights buzzing overhead and his own pulse quickening in his ears he heard nothing. He would have to risk trying to get a look. Inch by inch Kid rose up from his hands and knees until he crouched behind the ruined table. Steeling his breath, Kid slowly raised his head till he could peer out from behind his makeshift cover.

Since he still had his head on his shoulders Kid was guessing his location was not known yet. His cinnabarine eyes scanned the abandoned casino area, passing over destroyed furniture and game tables until they rested on the bar. There, hunched over on the countertop, was a shadowed figure of someone sitting on a barstool. 'What? Wasn't he just attacking me?'

Kid warily rose to his feet, keeping an eye on the slouched figure the entire time. Creeping forward, the red-haired captain kept to the darkness, avoided the florescent lit areas, but his booted feet still made bits of wood and glass crinkle underneath his shoes. As he drew closer he could make out Law's furry spotted hat resting off to the side, the man himself was sitting with his back turned towards Kid. Laws tattooed arms were folded on the bar table with his shaggy head resting on top. His dark locks seemed to spike out in completely random directions. Kid had never seen the doctor without his hat on so he wasn't sure if it was just bad hat-hair or the normal way Law's hair looked. Looking down at the other man's legs, Kid noticed Law was wearing dark red scrub pants and not those spotted jeans like he had seen before.

When Kid had successfully snuck up so he was only a few yards from the doctor, Law suddenly slid a glass off the countertop with enough force that it flew across the room and crashed somewhere in the darkness. Kid froze, wondering if Law had even been aware of his presence in the beginning. Judging from the amount of empty liquor bottles and glasses clustered around the surgeon like the best of drinking buddies, Kid could have just been the near unintentional victim of a drunken fit.

Shifting his stance so that he would be able to react to whatever the doctor threw at him, Kid cautiously voiced, "Trafalgar?"

Law flinched when he heard his name called. Was the madness back again so soon? He had already drunk so much…Why…it should have been kept at bay. 'I don't know if I can drink anymore, at least if I want to keep my liver.' He eyed the collection of empty glasses wearily. After drinking so much his mind was clouded and it was a terrible effort to focus on one thing; although that had been the point. 'I have to keep my crew safe…Better to destroy my organs than to have their blood on my hands.'

Slowly Law lifted his head off his arms. It felt like his skull was made of lead and the contents had been turned into slush with sharp jagged ice spikes that occasionally stabbed at the inside of his brain. Outstretching his hand towards one of the out of focus objects that resembled a bottle, Laws entire frame shook. His muscles burned with a weeks' worth of fatigue. Sleep was not a blessing that he was given, nor did he think he deserved it. Law could only guess at how many days had passed or the last time he had seen the sun.

Kid watched the doctor's shoulders jerk as if startled. But Law did not even turn around to acknowledge the red-haired supernova. He himself nearly jumped back when the dark-haired surgeon's entire body began shaking. His heart did a sudden flip when he realized Law was reaching out for something. Shuffling a bit closer to the other man, Kid looked over Law's shoulder as the doctor blindly fumbled around the empty bottles, knocking them over with a seemingly numb hand. Seeing his fellow supernova in such a state set a bad taste in Kids mouth. It was somehow just wrong. "Law", he said more gently now that he was closer. The doctor stopped, as if the simple name uttered had turned him to stone.

'Law? No one calls me that, not in that tone of voice.' He let his tattooed hand fall to the countertop and slowly turned on his seat to see what, or who, was calling him. Even the slightest of movement had his devastated body shuddering. His head seemed to churn along with his thoughts as he tried to focus on the poorly lit figure.

A gasp escaped from Kids purple stained lips as the doctor gradually turned to face him. It was Law's eyes that had the red-haired man shocked, but even as his own vermillion eyes took in the rest of the body he was left inexplicably horrified.

The doctors steel irises were set in pools of blood like sad gray islands floating in a red sea; the whites of Law's eyes were so bloodshot there was no trace of white at all. Just looking at the dark-haired man's eyes made Eustass Kid cringe as he thought of what kind of agony they might induce.

Judging from Laws last appearance, the dark circles that had been under his eyes had claimed even more territory on the now considerably gaunter face. His eyelids were so puffy it made it look as if the doctor were squinting at him, but Eustass knew this wasn't the case. Laws sharp cheekbones looked all the more prominent because of the sunken in cheeks. On one side of his face a faded bruise could be seen around his jawline. His lower lip had been split open and blood had poured out of it and dried in his short goatee. Dark stubble had begun to appear from lack of shaving. From what Kid could see of the doctors torso from the between the dark jacket the doctor was starting to look emaciated. Law's collar bones, sticking out more sharply than they should have, framed a small tattoo of his jolly rodger, with some sort of design creeping away from it, looked like ink on paper. Sweat gleamed over his normally caramel colored skin that had gone pallid as if he were terribly sick. Well, Kid supposed Law was sick. Over all Law looked like a hollowed out husk of his former self.

"You look like shit", Kid eventually voiced as he came out of his shock.

Law's eyes crinkled in the corners as he snorted his amusement. "Funny, I was jus' thinkin' I feel like shit", he slurred. His voice rasped with disuse and the days he had spent awake. "Figures my subconscious would project Eustass-ya of all things. What an asshole…," Law said to no one in particular as he spun on his stool to face the bar again, tracing his tattooed hand in a coagulating pool of blood. He seemed to disregard Kids presence as if he were just another fly on the wall. Eventually Law uttered to himself, "I suppose I have hallucinated worse, but this is still a low blow. I wonder if the hallucinations have been induced by alcohol or insomnia this time. Or maybe…", Law didn't finish his thought and let out a weary exhale.

Sighing heavily, Kid shook his head and sat on the barstool adjacent to Law's. "Still rude as ever I see. I'm not a hallucination dumbass." He knocked away a bottle Law had been about to reach for. The doctor turned his head to glare at him with annoyance.

"You know, Hallucination-ya, that is what the last two said." Just as Law was about to go searching for a new glass his sanguine stained eyes fell on Kid's injured hands. "Hmm, I hope you have had your Tetanus shot. Those splinters look bothersome. On top of being a moron in the real world, you need not be a lock jawed fool in mine."

"I told you I'm not a hallucination! Besides, look who's talking!" Kid growled and jabbed his finger into the middle of Law's boney chest as he added, "You're the dumb fuck who thinks he's hallucinating."

Law stared at Kids finger for a good hard moment, as if studying a new species with the intensity of a trance. Just as Kid was getting ready to slap the doctor across the face Law began babbling.

"Fascinating. My condition seems to have declined to the degree that I am experiencing somesthetic hallucinations. My neurons have been taxed to such an extreme that they are now failing to generate coherent schemas. Dopamine production must have declined and my Thalamus is beginning to degenerate. If this continues my immune system will collapse and my organs will fail regardless of any aid from alcohol or drugs. Perhaps I have developed an advanced sleeping disorder. Ah but it is too soon to know for sure…" Law trailed off and seemed to stare into space.

"What…?" Kids asked as his eyes grew wide and his mouth hung open.

"Ah, you poor unfortunate bastard. It appears the Tetanus has already begun to set in. Let me extract those splinters and metal fragments from your hands at least." Law shook his head sadly, as if lamenting a terrible tragedy, and withdrew a pair of tweezers from within his long black jacket.

Kid didn't even have time to react before one of his hands was being grabbed by the doctor's smaller ones. Flinching as Law pulled out a particularly large metal splinter, Kid griped, "Owch! Damit!" He tried to squirm away but Law fixed him with a hard stare and clamped down with surprising strength on his wrist with his thin fingers. "What is the point of trying to fix my hand if I'm just a hallucination?"

Law titled his head to the side, frowning in thought. "Hmm Hippocratic Oath I suppose. But my cognitively impaired brain has managed to have realized that I would not be experiencing sense of touch hallucinations this early on in my interrupted circadian rhythm."

Narrowing his eyes, Kid growled out, "In real people words smartass."

"Oh, I had forgotten the level of intelligence I am dealing with." Law blinked slowly as if waking up from a long nap. He turned his tired eyes on Kid, staring directly at him for the first time. "What I am trying to say is I believe that I have not been awake long enough to acquire advanced symptom's yet. Also despite my brains delayed processing, I have come to the conclusion that you are not a hallucination after thinking it through. And I am a doctor after all."

Kid started as Law's previously unfocused eyes landed on his own, boring holes straight into his soul until he wanted to squirm or at least hit the man. Abruptly Law returned to picking out shards from the pale supernovas palms. The red-haired captain opted to silently watch the doctor work until both of his hands were free of splinters. Even as those dark skinned hands worked on Kid's own injured hand there was dried blood caked in between Law's own tattooed fingers and around his fingernails. If he was any other man he might have been repulsed by it. Kid tried to quiet his annoyance by telling himself that he was dealing with a sleep deprived idiot who had had one too many drinks. Even from here he could smell the alcoholic odor wafting off the surgeon in nauseating waves.

Law broke the silence by tucking his tweezers back into his jacket and leaning an elbow on the countertop as he stared at Kid, asking, "So why are you here, Eustass-ya?"

Breathing deliberately out of his nose in another sigh, Kid leaned against the counter top on one elbow and propped his head on top of his fist while he turned to face the dark-haired surgeon. "Because a certain psychopath doctor decided to go bat shit insane on the entire island. Even your own crew was scared shitless. It was kind of funny actually."

"My crew", Law echoed, looking wistfully into space for a moment. Then the doctor's attention snapped back onto Kid so fast the red-haired captain nearly fell out of his seat. "I heard them. They should have been just outside. What have you done with them?" Laws countenance turned dark, his mouth drawn into a hard line as his narrowed steel eyes emitted a silent threat.

Smirking, Kid looked at him and couldn't resist breaking off from his somewhat more sadistic tendencies. "What do you think?" he taunted maliciously.

This was clearly not the wisest choice of words; especially to someone in Laws current condition.

"I'm thinking you are about to have a whole lot more to worry about than Tetanus and a few lousy splinters, Mister Eustass-ya," Law said, smiling ostensibly the entire time, as his gray eyes seemed to flicker and glow like storm clouds lit up by lightning.

A wall of blue seemed to surge off the surgeon, expanding into the shape of a dome. Kid slipped off the barstool and leapt backwards, gathering metal fragments and debris near one hand to prepare for a strike. When the red-haired supernova had thought he had been out of range the blue orb, the 'operating room' kept expanding. His eyes blew wide in surprise as he was quickly overtaken and encompassed in Law's power.

* * *

_Meanwhile outside of the casino-motel…_

Killer was bringing up the rear of the Kid Pirates, but he stopped in his tracks as he heard gasps of horror coming from the Heart Pirates behind him. Spinning on his heel he couldn't stop his own gasp as he looked back towards the casino. The entire building was surrounded in a translucent blue film.

"What has your captain done", Penguin said in a hushed voice.

"I don't know, but I have to go help him," Killer uttered as he shook his head. A grip on his shoulder stopped him in his tracks. He turned his head to the side to see the ginger haired man called Shachi biting his lip while looking at the expanding orb.

"You can't go back. You would only get in their way." Shachi looked back towards the masked man as he asked, "Besides, do you really think you would stand a chance? I didn't think you were that much of an idiot if you do."

Killer's shoulders visibly slumped and the two Heart Pirate's almost felt sorry for the masked man. "Then I suppose we need to prepare our ships. If our captain's fight draws near here they could endanger our only source of transportation," he said in resignation. The last thing Killer wanted to do was impede his captain. Also if he went back he would not only be breaking an order, but showing a lack of faith.

They all nodded their agreement. Both of the pirate crews quickened their pace till they were running down the abandoned streets of the town and towards the docks. The cobblestones beginning to quake underneath of their feet only made them run faster.

+~O~+

**Sub authors note:**

**Wondering about Laws unexpected gain in power? I'll be sure to explain that in another chapter :)**

**I'll even ask you nicely for reviews this time :P. Reviews please oh dear readers?**

**Yes ,yes, Bepo is still alive in case you are wondering. Any more questions? If so, pm me and I will answer to the best of my abilities: D!~**


	4. Chapter 4

**Insomniac, Alcoholic, and Insane?**

Ch.4

**Authors Note:**

**I just want to say I cannot thank my friend Jitt enough. She really pulled me through this chapter and jumpstarted my muse with some heart defibrillators. Jitt gave me the great idea to listen to music while I write :O so I was inspired by the soundtrack ****300 OST - Returns a King.**

**Thanks for the reviews guys, they really keep me going and I really appreciate them.**

**P.S Author is not responsible for any loss of urinary continence during this chapter. Thank you.**

+~O~+

Kid was shocked when the 'operating room' kept expanding. But even when it had succeeded to completely envelop him it kept reaching outwards. The red-haired captain suddenly wasn't given the option to try and retreat out of the range of Law's power. Something was definitely wrong with Law. The dark-haired doctor's range had never been this massive. It had not been long enough from their last meeting for the surgeon to improve so quickly; at least by normal means.

His vermillion eyes watched the blue film extend up to the casino walls and all the way to the ceiling. He had thought the power would stop there but a feeling of dread fell on him as surely as a blacksmiths hammer when it went beyond the walls of the building that was larger than his ship by at least three times.

Law watched Eustass Kid's expression change from one of excitement for battle to one of disbelief. The pale man's pupils had contracted and he could sense the heart starting to quicken in the man's muscular chest. He had always possessed a particular affinity for that muscular organ; it's tissues solely unique from all the other types of the body. All of the other organs depended on it to supply them with blood, delivering the oxygen needed for them to function. That one visceral entity never stopped to rest in a being's entire life and dictated whether a person was alive or not; you were determined dead when your heart stopped beating.

Lips curling in an amused grin, the doctor reached for his hat as he slipped off the bar stool.

The pale supernova's attention was drawn back to movement by the barkeep. Law had begun to stand up from his seat and had a hand resting on top of his furry spotted hat. White teeth gleamed from the shadow of the surgeons face in a wicked grin. Kid bared his teeth in a defiant snarl as he used his devil fruit ability to attract a few more metal fragments over to his arm. He was used to more solid bits of metal to attack with, but these little pieces of casino debris could be just as dangerous if not more.

Calmly Law observed Kid as the red-haired captain formed a huge metal construct around a pale arm. He could have exchanged the metal fragments for pieces of air by using his operating room, but what fun would that be? He raised his steel eyes, gleaming in the poor light, as the other captain swung the monstrosity of a metal arm at him as soon as he had gotten up from his bar seat.

Kid swung out to hit the doctor with a massive right hook when he nearly lost his balance as his metal arm whooshed through nothing but air, passing right through the spot where Law had been. He hop skipped on one leg for a moment as he fought to regain his stance. His eyes widened in surprise as he quickly began searching for his opponent, both with his Haki and with sight. Just as Kid sensed the presence looming behind him he felt thin fingers lightly flutter up his neck with a touch so soft that he would have thought it was air if he didn't recognize the unmistakable presence of Trafalgar Law behind him. Those same fluttering finger tips that had slowly traced up his neck harshly gripped his jawline and had the back of Kid's head crashing into the casino floor before he even had time to shudder. Kid's sight was obscured by black furry dots racing across his vision. Throwing his body to the side, Kid rolled over onto his hands and knees even as his sight darkened dangerously from the sudden movement. Shaking his head to clear it, Kid glared at the doctor standing smugly with a smirk plastered on his face several yards away.

Practically spitting with vehemence, Kid let out a deep rumble that held a mixture of frustration and anger. Dark chuckling from the sleep deprived doctor had the black flurries abruptly replaced with deep red in the edge of the pale supernova's sight. Just before Kid was sure he was about to go completely berserk he noticed that he had not been cut up like the record player. Captain Kid was suddenly hit with the startling revelation that Trafalgar did not have his nodachi with him. Things were starting to make less and less sense. How was it possible for the surgeon to cut when he had nothing to cut with?

Noticing the irate captains face flash over to a look of confusion, Law asked, "What the matter Mister Eustass-ya? Is a sleep starved doctor not an easy enough target for you?"

Snarling through his teeth, Kid stood back up to his feet and brushed off the rubble of the casino trash from his pants. His burnt orange eyes seared with poorly contained rage. "I'm just wondering why you're bothering to use your hands. Was Law a bad doctor and he got his sword taken away?" Kid taunted right back.

Narrowing his redden eyes, Law's lips twitched before they turned into a vicious grin. "I don't need my sword to kill you if that is what you are too afraid to ask directly." Much to Law's inner satisfaction, Kids power sparked with small purple lightning near his metal covered arm in apparent irritation.

"My sword is merely an act of mercy, cutting my opponents cleanly so they don't feel as much pain."

Law paused to take out his scalpel, its blade, reflecting the stuttering florescent lights, was sharpened to a deadly edge that rivaled any swords. Much to Kid's apprehension and growing shock, Law replaced it back into his jacket pocket. 'What is this mad man thinking?'

"Oh no Mister Eustass-ya, I will take great pleasure in using my bare hands to rip your apart, agonizingly bit by bit till you will be left begging for me to use a blade. But before that I think I will crush you a little first. It will be easier to dissect you if you won't be able to move around as much."

Kid hardly had time to digest the unnatural glow in the surgeon's eyes before night air suddenly rushed into the casino as the ground made a bone jarring shudder underneath of Kid's feet, chilling the red-haired supernova to the bone. There was a deafening crack of wood splitting apart accompanied by the horrific squeal of metal as it was ripped asunder.

+~O~+

Both of the supernova's crews staggered, some falling to the ground, as the earth gave a mighty rumble, quaking as a giant shockwave rolled through the ground. The waves of the ocean spiked upwards around the Kid Pirates vessel, soaking the few crew members that had climbed aboard.

Shachi cried out as he was sent tripping forward and onto his face; his nosebleed was restarted with the clumsy landing. Lifting his head, he looked around frantically for his shipmate Penguin. His eyes found Penguin lying on the ground with his arms clutching his sides. Shachi's fall had landed him several feet from his nakama and he couldn't stand up to help him because of the tremors surging below.

Penguin had stumbled as the earth seemed to buck up underneath of the sandy shoreline. He had fallen to his side, gasping in pain as his impact added more pain to his abused chest. The earth was shaking so violently now it rattled his teeth in his skull. It shook his cracked rips to the point that he thought they would be left in pieces. The pain was too much. All he could do was lay there helpless until the ground stopped shaking.

Abruptly Penguin felt himself lifted up by his jumpsuit collar and his feet hung in the air for an instant before pressure settled behind his neck, knees, and one of his sides. Turning his head to the side in bewilderment, Penguin looked up to see the masked face of Killer. 'The Kid Pirates first mate just helped me?!'

"Heat, Wire, help the Heart Pirates onto our ship", Killer yelled over the many voices of the crews rushing around in panic. He leapt up onto the deck near the skull and bat shaped prow. A startled gasp from the penguin-hat man in his arms had him staring back down. Penguin was staring out towards the island with his jaw wide open in apparent shock. Lifting his gaze to see what the Heart Pirate saw, Killer looked back towards to decimated town and what was there left him speechless.

The casino-motel was moving_. _No it was _rising_! An entire building easily the size of two marine ships was floating up into the sky. When the crews of the supernovas were finally able to even comprehend this strange anomaly, the revelation had their blood running cold as ice through their veins. Each heart beat only seemed to hammer in the sickening feeling of dread further that twisted at their stomachs.

Trafalgar Law's blue film could be seen, even from this distance, surrounding the entire building and then some. Pieces of lawn and plants were seen as dark masses twirling around as they were suspended by the 'operating room'.

"P-P-Pe- Peh-Penguin…" Shachi stammered as turned to face his nakama. He watched in surprise as Killer set Penguin down gently after the latter flushed brightly while saying he was fine enough to stand.

"We have to warn Bepo. He is hiding with our ship near the eastern shore underneath the cliff side. If those quakes loosen the ground too much the cliff could collapse on him!" Penguin looked at both the masked man and his nakama as he spoke.

Taking the hint, Killer shouted two of his nakama over. "Wire, take Hear and go with", he looked towards the ginger haired Heart Pirate who supplied him with his name, "Shachi to the Heart Pirate's ship. We need to work together. Should the worst come to pass it will be better to fight alongside each other."

Wire stared with a seemingly bored expression and simply nodded his understanding. Shachi gawked at the trident wielding man for a moment. This man called Wire was taller than his red-haired captain and reminded him of a devil with his strange cowl-cape with horns like projections perched on his head. Then the off-white dreadlock guy, Heat, who looked like a stitched up doll of some, gently nudged Shachi to lead the way.

'These Kid Pirates sure look scary.' Shachi nervously glanced back at Penguin who nodded his head for him to go. Sighing, Shachi took one last glance at the blue film dominating the center of the small island. It was more than enough reason to cooperate with these strange pirates. Shachi motioned for the two Kid Pirates to follow.

The mismatched trio took off down the beach towards the eastern side of the island, kicking up dust and sand in their haste.

+~O~+

"Repel!" Kid shouted, sending jagged metal shards flying towards Trafalgar Law. The doctor just smirked and waved a tattooed hand, leaving the red-haired pirate bewildered till his Haki kicked in and warned him of the very fragments he had repelled about to pierce him in the back. Swinging his metallic covered arm out at the last second, the metal shards pinged against at and spiraled crazily in the air before Kid attracted them right back. 'Well shit, that didn't work.'

Staring at the pale supernova practically boiling over with frustration was proving to be amusing. Law was purposefully dragging out the actual amount of time it took to lift the casino-motel so he could watch how Eustass Kid would squirm. Any moment now the Kid Pirate's Captain would be realizing his inevitable defeat. Or maybe Kid really was a muscle headed moron and thought he still stood a chance. The doctor was still hoping for more entertaining prey than this though.

"Isn't throwing a fucking _building_ at someone a little extreme?!" Kid roared in an attempt to stall. His brain was still trying to process the fact that an object that made giants look like dolls in a toy house was being aimed at him. But he hadn't wasted the little, but precious time it was taking the doctor to lift the massive casino up into the air. He was thinking. What possible options were left that could still get him out of here alive?

'Think Kid, think. You have a building aimed at you, a fucking _building_… I can't run away from it. Attacking with my powers is getting me nowhere except nearly impaling myself with metal. And there is no way I could dodge something so huge. So what can I do?!'

"If you think any harder, Mister Eustass-ya, I suspect I will start to see smoke coming out from your ears," Law uttered sarcastically. Twirling his fingers around, he rotated the floating casino in an angle more to his liking. It was now high enough that he could simply let it drop and crush the other man. "Well, I was hoping to see you squirm around a bit more before I killed you, but watching you fool yourself into thinking you can still survive is too pathetic to even watch any longer."

Time seemed to slow down to a crawl as Eustass Kid watched the film evaporate, leaving the building with nothing to stop gravity from doing its work. Then, in what should have been his last moments, a thought flashed through the red-haired captain's mind, so insane that he would have discarded it if he had any other option.

Laws gray in red eyes widen with amazement as the muscular supernova began rushing towards him with a ludicrous look in his crimson colored eyes. Then he smirked in sudden understanding. "Rather clever for a brute…" he murmured more to himself than the man currently hurtling towards him.

"No way a creepy fucker like you would crush yourself with a building", Kid roared in triumph as he launched himself at Law. Just as he was about to collide with the doctor, Law jumped up and he felt something grab onto his fur coat as he flew towards what remained of the casino-motels floor. Before he made contact the blue film appeared again and quite suddenly he found himself flying outside in the cool night air.

"WHAT THE FUCK" Kid shouted in shock as he pin wheeled his arms, trying to stop his crazy flight through the sky.

"You should be happy Mister Eustass-ya. It is not every day a man gets the chance to fly," Law said with amusement, as he held onto the red-haired captain's coat, hitching a ride on his unsuspecting victims back. As they neared the edge of his operating room Law released the current blue film and made a new one, teleporting them higher into the air so they would not lose the height of their outward trajectory.

+~O~+

"Uh…mister Killer?" Penguin asked uncertainly. The masked man in question turned to face the Heart Pirate who was sitting on the railing near the ships prow.

"What?" Killer asked, looking towards the other man staring out towards the town.

"I think maybe we should move the ship further out to sea…" Penguin said, wiping at the sudden cold sweat that had broken out on his neck. He pointed a shaking hand towards the island before the Kid Pirate's first mate could ask why.

Killer turned is head to look in the pointed out direction. Inwardly he was swearing violently, but he retained his calm exterior as he reminded himself that this was the New World. But still, he had never expected to see the shear amount of mind blowing things at such frequent intervals in this sea.

"I can see why you would think that", Killer said slowly as he watched blue hemispheres rapidly disappearing and reappearing. Each time the 'operating room' reformed it appeared closer. At this rate the two captains' battle would reach the shoreline. "But they seem to be moving quickly enough that I don't think we can turn around in time", he said as the last blue film reached them, sending a dark mass rapidly hurtling towards them.

+~O~+

The doctor current cackling with glee on his back would have pissed off Captain Kid but he was busy trying to figure out how to stop his unwanted flight and the inevitable crash-landing it would produce.

Wind filled his ears and stung harshly at the redheaded supernovas cinnabarine eye's till he came up with the bright idea of using his goggles. Sliding the goggles down from his forehead, his eyes felt instant relief from the air blasting into his face. But Kid found being able to see had not made the situation seem any better. The abandoned towns cobblestone roads and smoking buildings were rushing underneath of them so fast they were just a blur. If anything it filled his mind with more thoughts of, 'Holy shit!'

"Isn't this fun Mister Eustass-ya", Law said, excitement clear in his raspy voice.

"Hell no! How the shit are we supposed to land without dying you retarded fucking quack doctor!?" Kid screamed over the roar of air rushing past them.

"Hmm… good question", Law hemmed and rubbed at his goatee in thought. Then he gave a loud and horrified gasp.

"WHAT?! Did you just now comprehend the level of shit you got us into you dumbass?!" Kid yelled incredulously.

"No…" Law voiced. His tone was dark and strained as if he were in shock.

"Then what!?"

"I had forgotten that I have a beard. The texture of it on my face startled me for a moment."

At that instant Kid wanted to scream, or maybe cry. Possibly both. Hell he didn't even know how to cry. Kid found himself praying that it was just the lack of sleep and the shit loads of alcohol that was causing this doctor to act in such an arbitrary manner.

"I assume your crew is docked in the towns harbor", Law said, breaking the mentally despairing supernova out of his downward spiraling thoughts.

"Well, yeah…?" Kid supplied, not understanding what the dark-haired captain had planned. Was it normal to hold a conversation in the middle of the air when you were about to crash?

"Then we will land in the ocean. Hopefully your crew will see our impact and come to drag you out of the water, seeing as you can't swim," Law explained with a matter of fact tone.

"Aren't you forgetting someone," Kid growled while jabbing a finger into the surgeon sitting on his back.

"Your crew has no reason to help me." Law said with indifference that left Eustass Kid stunned for a few heartbeats.

"That's not entirely true", Kid mumbled.

Arching an eyebrow that his furry, muscular, and irritable magic carpet wouldn't see, Law asked, "Oh and why is that Mister Eustass-ya?"

Sighing in equal parts annoyance and defeat, Kid growled over his shoulder, "Because I talked with your crew and agreed to help your sorry ass. That's why!"

Law remained silent for a moment, digesting the sudden information. So that's why he had sensed the other supernova holding back in their fight. The normally straightforward and rash man had attacked uncharacteristically; with caution. Eustass Kid was anything but cautious in Law's mind.

"Why didn't you just say so from the beginning? Honestly, what kind of moron knowingly goes and provokes a slightly deranged man?"

"I think you are more than _slightly _deranged Trafalgar", the red-haired captain muttered darkly.

Chuckling in agreement, Law shifted his position on the muscular supernova's back, wrapping his legs and arms around Kid like an improvised backpack. Kid flinched, but a voice followed by breath near his pale ear stilled him.

"Mister Eustass-ya, get ready to hit the water. I suggest taking off those goggles before the glass shatters into your face from the force of our impact."

Grunting in acknowledgement, Kid pushed the goggles up on his forehead and braced himself the best he could for the rapidly approaching body of water. He felt Law's arm slide up and take the goggles off, but he figured that they would just shatter on his forehead if he left them there anyways. As they hurtled the last few meters towards the sea both of the supernovas could just make out the Kid Pirate's ship floating nearby before they crashed into the waves with a loud splash. Water shot skywards in a geyser, soaking the inhabitants of the craft as they stared at the white foamy sea in shock.

+~O~+

**Sub Authors Note:**

**I hope you enjoyed this chapter. As you can see it was a little… different xD. Anyways leave me some reviews. I need them to function :D.**

**I do not own any One Piece characters and blah blah blah.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Insomniac, Alcoholic, and Insane**

**Authors Note: Oh how I wish I could see the expressions on your faces after reading this... *walks away cackling evilly***

+~O~+

Ch.5

Water, it filled their noses, worked its way into their ears, stung at their eyes, and pulled both of the supernovas further into the frigid embrace of its depths. They were sinking, slowly but surely, into the dark and vast ocean. It was night and the moonless night was doing a poor job of illuminating the sea.

A few precious bubbles of air passed through Eustass Kids teeth as he gritted them from the unpleasant sensation of the cold, numbing, saltwater. Sea water is crippling to devil fruit users. Kid could barely manage to turn his head to the side to look for Trafalgar Law. It was so dark it was near impossible to see anything. Just that slight movement of his head had drained some of the last reserves of his strength.

When the red-haired captain was about to give up on searching, something pale was illuminated by the weak starlight. There, floating beside him was his fellow dark-haired supernova. Law's face was pulled into a pained expression and his body and slightly curled up on its self. If the tattooed man wasn't pulling such an agonized frown, his sickness paled skin would have made him look like a corpse floating in the ocean.

Reaching out for the dark jacket that billowed after the surgeon, Kids movements were sluggish at best as he tried to pull the lanky man towards him. Finding two small targets in a massive ocean would be difficult at best. One collective supernova lump would be much easier to locate. So Kid would later tell himself that it was survival instinct that had made him grab onto the deranged doctor.

Law thought he had felt like shit before, but now, in addition to nearly poisoning himself with alcohol, and the lack of sleep, the sea waters effect was purely nauseating. Grimacing in discomfort, he tensed his jaw and squeezed his eyes shut to keep as much of the water out as possible. He would have thrown up right there and then, but he had nothing left in his stomach after days of not eating and liquor induced vomiting. Also, if the surgeon allowed his body to try and retch he was sure that he would lose whatever air he had managed to fill his lungs with.

It was lucky that he had training himself not to vomit. Law saw rejecting the contents ones bowels as a necessary, but annoying, bodily function that should know its damned place and be a voluntary action. Something grabbing onto the edge of his jacket startled him out of his musings, but he couldn't move a single muscle in his freezing limbs to defend himself from the unknown enigma. Prying one sanguine stained eye open by just a sliver, Law was met with darkness until it settled on an ivory hand clamping down onto his dark article of clothing. His stinging eye couldn't believe it and widened in shock despite the salt water abusing his over sensitized eyeball.

Captain Kid watched as one of the doctor's gray-in-red orbs slowly crack open only to blow wide open. Their eyes met in a silent look that spoke words that were never said. They may or may not die here, but if they were, they were going to go out of this world together. Death is something no man wants to face alone, no matter what kind of person you are.

The actual time they spent alone together in the water was magnified into immeasurable units as they slowly suffocated. Seconds turned to minutes as the waves pushed them further into its maw. Their dark, underwater, world was oppressively silent, watching their descent with cold indifference, muffling any sound. No noise, no light, it was just them; only the ocean as their witness.

Law was sure that dying in the ocean was one of the uglier ways to die. It was a slow death, one that would make the corpse bloat up after soaking up moisture. 'First the body will begin to spasm uncontrollably as oxygen is deprived from the brain and…well let's not be melodramatic', Law thought to himself. Sure death was never pretty, seeing as how once the brain stopped sending signals to rest of the body the bowels would cease any muscle tension and the contents of ones stomach and bladder would literally ooze out; all of this occurring before the wonder that is rigor mortis could take place. Law had been holding onto the hope that he would at least be able to die with some dignity. Even that small hope seemed to die in the dark waters.

Kid saw the smaller man struggling, those small bubbles of air clearly signs that the surgeon was reaching his limits. The way that emaciated body imperceptibly twitched before it grew rigid. He wanted to shake the other man by the shoulders and yell at him to hold on for a fucking second. But by now his long soak in the cold ocean water had drained whatever strength he had left. All they could do was wait in the oppressive darkness. Where was his crew? Had they even seen them? Were they going to come for them or would they die here, alone and dying the stupidest way possible for a devil fruit user?

Burning, his lungs were burning. Every respiratory cell in Law's lungs cried out for air. His whole being was saying, 'inhale!' But there was only sea water to breathe in. He felt bubbles of what could only be carbon dioxide escaping from between his clenched teeth as his body tried to choke on some of the salty water.

An unfamiliar feeling twisted and tightened inside of the red-haired supernova's chest. It grew until wasn't just the lack of air but anxiety, despair, and the helpless rage that constricted his lungs. His feelings climaxed when more bubbles trickled from Laws split lip. All he could do was stare in mutely transfixed horror. Kid desperately wanted to tear his eyes away from the sight of the surgeon slowly losing the battle of holding your breath against death. But he couldn't bring himself to look away. If Law was going to die, it would be the exact same death he was about to share.

Black began to creep into the edges of Kids vision. His lungs were on fire and it felt like they were either going to pop or collapse in on themselves at any second. Law was just a pale blur in the corner of his eyes now. 'We can't die here, not like this…' But Kid couldn't take it anymore he had to breathe! The moment he inhaled he choked on the harsh water that stung at his throat and inside of nose.

Whiteness slowly seeped into one side of Captain Kids vision. 'Well shit…they said to not go to the light, but it's better than going to hell right? Damn, I was sure I was going to hell,' Kid thought to himself uncertainly, but what other explanation could there be for light in the dark depths of the deep-sea.

With the last bits of the red-haired man's remaining consciousness, his cinnabarine eyes rolled towards the unknown source of light. Something bright yellow and shooting twin rays of amber light out in front of it was coming their way. Just as Kids eyes were fluttering shut, he saw a dark figure coming from above and felt something grab onto his fur coat that was still around his shoulders.

'Funny, I thought devils came from below and not from above, and definitely not surrounded by light.'

+~O~+

"tain…id," a faint voice called, pulling the pale supernova from the depths of unconsciousness.

'Fuck off…', Kid thought in annoyance. His crew should know better than to mess with him when he was sleeping.

"Kid", someone shouted louder; the shuffling of several different feet and the nervous chattering from many voices continued to irk at the red-haired captains last nerves. Someone was going to die very soon if they didn't knock off the noise.

"Captain Kid, please wake up!"

'God would they just shut up for a moment. After dealing with that insane quack doctor I need some peace and quiet.'

"Master Kid!"

'What the fuck Wire! Just let me sleep!'

Killer stared down at his captain's face; it was slowly morphing from one of passive sleep to dangerous irritation. But they needed him right now. He shouted one last time as he patted the side of Kids pale face with his palm.

"Come on Captain! Pull yourself together!"

Eustass Kid bolted upright, his eyes opening wide as saucers, to defend himself from the strange slaps to the side of his head, only for his forehead to make a loud crack as it made stinging contact with something hard. Very hard. "Yowch!" The red-haired captain yelped, reeling backwards and arched off the deck in pain with just his shoulders and feet keeping him up. Kid's ears rang as he groaned, covering his abused face with his hands as he waited for his brain to settle back into its rightful place. His crimson eyes snapped open to glare at his masked first mate from between his fingers. "Dammit, I thought I told you not to wake me up like that Killer!"

"S-Sorry Captain", Killer apologized, holding his blue and white mask to stop its vibrations.

Gasping in sudden shock, Kid remembered that just moments before he had been drowning with Trafalgar, the red-haired pirate expression turned into an expression of intensity. Kid swiveled his head around, desperately searching for the supernova doctor. He barely registered the Heart Pirates swarming about as they mingled with his own crew.

"What is it Captain Kid?" Killer asked in confusion, watching the red-haired man looking around with a strange expression on his normally severe face.

"Where is Trafalgar?" Kid said, his voice sounded far off and his eye's took on a strange look.

Tilting his head to the side in confusion, Killer pointed off towards the starboard side where a group of Heart Pirates were gathered, hunching over something lying on the deck. "Over there."

Vermillion orbs, their dark pits narrowing to pinpricks, fell on a pitiful figure, lying on its back a dark jacket splayed out underneath of it so that a bare, pale, torso could be seen. Breath hitched in Kids throat as he forgot how to breathe. Numbly he picked himself up onto his feet and stumbled over to the group of crouching pirates. The world around the red-haired supernova faded to background noise and unsaturated blurs as his focus was narrowed to that one devastated entity.

There, lying on the deck on top of the doctor's spread out jacket was the Surgeon of Death. Trafalgar Law's eyes were closed, the dark marks underneath were like harsh bruises on his blanched skin. His wet, ebony, hair was splayed chaotically against the ships splotched deck. The surgeon's slightly parted lips had discolored into a shade of purplish-blue, his fingertips and bare toes the same bloodless hue. Grinning up at him was the tattoo of the Heart Pirates jolly rodger, black ink staring at him from the sternum of the doctor's bare chest, wasted by sickness, the skin unbearably taunt over the afflicted frame.

Swallowing around the feeling that had taken ahold of his throat, Kid hadn't even realized he had fallen to his knees by the doctor's side. The Heart Pirates had wordlessly moved aside, letting the pale supernova settle amongst their vigil because of the transfixed look on the red-haired man's countenance. Eustass Kid's held breath finally shuddered out of him as his eyes began to convey what he was seeing to the spinning of his brain that was busy trying to process what he kept telling himself wasn't there; that Law was fine, that he had to wake up again, that this was some sick joke. Kid bit his lips, clenching his jaws together until they groaned as he swallowed back that feeling that threatened to spill out of his eyes.

Both of the pirate crews had gathered to huddle around the two supernovas captains on deck. Silently they watched the red-haired captains face twist in a series of complex emotions before it settled on one agonized expression. Finally the pale captains purple stained lips drew into a hard grimace, his crimson eyes narrowed and submerged in emotions he struggled to hold back.

"You were right there', Kid uttered softly, staring at the dark-haired surgeons unresponsive face with a suffering look. " I had you in my hands… You were right _there_!" He choked out, starting shakily but ended up screaming harshly into the night air, shaking his empty hands at of the supinated surgeon.

No one moved. Everyone watched, a deathly quiet hanging over the ship, as the notorious Eustass Captain Kid seemed to break down before their eyes.

"Wake the fuck up! You are not fucking dead dammit!" Kid beat one closed fist against the center of the doctor's chest, yelling hoarsely at the top of his lungs, "Get up! Get the FUCK UP!"

Kid barely registered the clearly displeased heart pirates shouting in the background, his eyes bugging out of his head when the seemingly dead surgeon sputtered up a mouthful of sea water.

Law opened his blood stained eyes, rolling them in their sockets to fix his steel colored iris at him with the effect of pinning an anatomy subject to the desk. Kid gaped dumbly at him in shock, his jaw hanging wide open and staring at him like he was fucking Jesus Christ coming out of the grave. Groaning softly, he managed to rasp, "You should be more quiet Mister Eustass-ya. On top of a killer hangover, hitting a sick person is downright rude." Law's pallid lips curled into a smirk. "Also we should really see about getting you that Tetanus shot."

Mouth clicking shut, Kid clamped his mouth together in a hard line, staring at the doctor with uncharacteristic stillness. Not even one spittle flying piece of obscenity left his dark purple lips. Kid did not dare to break the silence, less he wake up and ended this dream and Law turned out to really be dead.

"You IDIOT! Did you really think our captain was dead you moron!?" Penguin and Shachi screeched vehemently at Eustass Kid in unison. The pale supernova's turned slightly, his eye twitching violently, and the pair squeaked and rushed to hide behind a bewildered looking Killer. Killer stood there, raising his hands up in a disarming gesture as his captain continued to glare harshly in their direction.

Law groaned in pain again. "Killer hangover over here. Kindly shut your faces."

"What the hell is wrong with you!.. Here I am thinking this fuck brained doctor went and croaked because you shithead dumbasses are sitting there like it's the end of the god damn fucking world when your captain isn't even fucking dead", Kid hissed in a voice just above a whisper, so that he was not technically yelling.

Shachi and Penguin turned to stare at each other, sweat rolling down their faces as they realized how their actions could have easily been misinterpreted. "…Sorry", they whispered back after a moment, gingerly turning to look back at the fuming red-haired supernova.

Sighing heavily while shaking his head, Kid looked down to see the gray-eyed surgeon grimacing up at him. That was when he realized something was wrong. Law hadn't moved one inch since he had opened his eyes."…Oi, Trafalgar, what's wrong with you?"

Smirking at the unexpected comment, Law drawled out, " If I knew the reason for that I would have gone about correcting it a long time ago, Mister Eustass-ya."

Kid rolled is orange-red eyes in annoyance and snapped, "Not that! I mean why can't you move you fucking smartass?"

Blinking his blood soaked eyes slowly, Law hummed for a moment, trying to think of a way to explain it to someone with…marginal intelligence. "Due to my profound lack of sleep these past couple of weeks, my lactic acid has built up and now my muscle cells are unable to function normally. Sleep usually gives the body a chance to recover and heal itself, regenerating tissues and regulating the immune system. But obviously I have not had such an opportunity. On top of my muscle fatigue I have not digested a substantial amount of calories. Now adding our unexpected plunge into the ocean, on top of my current symptoms, it leaves me in the sad state I'm currently in."

"Fine, then go to sleep", Kid deadpanned with absolute seriousness.

Killer shook his masked-head, knowing well that his captain had probably only grasped half of the tattooed supernovas explanation. He motioned for Heat and Wire, who were standing off to the side, to come over. They wordlessly walked over and together they quietly conversed with Shachi and Penguin in hushed tones as their captains continued with their odd conversation.

Law closed his eyes and let out a long exasperated huff. "I would if I could, but I can't."

"Then just take some sleep medicine or something. I'll even knock you out myself if you want," Kid offered while grinning at the thought.

"I'm afraid neither of those will work. Even if I do enter into an unconscious state from one of those they still won't have the same effect as natural sleep. Only in the deeper levels of sleep does tissue repair and other regeneration occur. In order for me to recover I have to reach that deeper level of sleep that can only be achieved by normal methods."

"Well fuck, why have you been at a bar, drinking yourself shitless, and not trying to sleep like a normal person?"

This time when Law opened his gray eyes to stare at Kid, the red-haired captain was shocked by the cold look in them. How they faintly glowed with a soft light of despair and bleakness.

Law opened his mouth to speak, but then closed it again as he stared listlessly out into the crowd of pirates surrounding them. Was he supposed to tell a rival captain that he had gone mad from sleeplessness after fighting with his first mate? Or that he had a possible issue of insanity? Hell, Law wasn't even ready to admit to himself that he might have a little bit of a problem. White fur snapped him out of his inner turmoil, catching at the edge of his vision. Law's pupils contracted till they shook in his steel iris as he recognized an all too familiar figure.

Kid noticed Laws expression tense up, inadvertently causing his own body to coil up like a metal spring in response. His vermillion eyes darted around, trying to identify the source of the dark-haired supernovas consternation, and he quickly spotted a white bipedal bear standing a bit of a ways off. The thing looked like a polar bear, only it was in a bright orange jumpsuit and looked rather meek compared to a normal bear. It looked familiar somehow.

Bepo let out a small squeak as he ducked behind his giant crewmate, Jean Bart. Normally he and Jean didn't get along too well, but they had managed to cooperate during their captains' absence. Albeit a bit reluctantly. Jean just stood there, shrugging his shoulders indifferently, and allowed himself to be used as a shield.

When two Kid Pirates had showed up along with Shachi, demanding them to move the ship it had been a shock. But when they heard of the possible danger they were in they had quickly accompanied them. Together Jean and Bepo had driven the sub to light up the seas as the Kid Pirates dove into the ocean to drag both of the supernovas out of the water. Never did he suspect that he would be forced to meet with his despairing captain again so soon.

Fluffy white ears popped up from one side of the massive humanoid as Bepo's coal black eyes stared out tentatively from behind his fellow Heart Pirate.

Something tightened painfully around one of his wrists, causing Kid to look back down at the doctor in shock. Law was breathing in short, shallow, gasps, as his chest rose and fell in rapid intakes and exhales of air. His entire body was shuddering but still unable to move except for the tattooed hand clutching at the red-haired captains pale arm. His gray-in-red eyes were round in what looked like shock, the pupils shrunken down into dark specks. Every inch of the surgeon, from his taunt face to his curled toes, screamed 'I'll fucking kill you if you take one step closer bear.'

With what little medical knowledge Kid had, he was guessing that the doctor was hyperventilating while at the same time also trying to emit a killing aura that said he was ready to beat the shit out of anyone. The reaction surprised the red-haired captain, the doctor had seemed so laidback. But here Law was, ready to rip a teddy bears man's face off for god knows why.

Kid didn't know why seeing his own first mate was making Trafalgar freak out, but the pained and fraught look on the doctors pallid face was enough reason to act. He slid a muscular arm underneath the surgeon and scooped him up. Briefly he hissed through his teeth at how light the lanky man was and cradled Law against his chest. A full grown man should have weighed more. Turning his vermillion glare at the bear, Kid ground out in a dark tone, "Whatever the fuck you did to him you better get the hell out of here before I kick your furry ass!"

Hot tears pooled in the corners of Bepo's eyes as he stared at his captain hanging limply as a rag doll in the rival supernovas arms. His captain's eyes were locked on him like nails getting ready to hold him to a board. Even from here he could see the rapid fluttering of Law's torso as the doctor fought to breathe. He so desperately wanted to help him, but he couldn't. Law would just get upset at him again and Bepo was afraid he would hurt himself or someone else like last time. Ears flattening against his head in dejection, the bear leapt over the railing onto the Heart Pirates vessel. Shachi ran to follow after him, shouting at some of shipmates to come with.

Penguin hobbled over to the two supernovas with the assistance of Killer. Cautiously he reached out to touch his captain's clammy arm. The surgeon only inhaled sharply and twitched in response. Tears made several trails along Penguins dirt covered face as he bit down on his lower lip to quiet his sobs. His captain was in such a terrible condition and there was nothing he could do.

"Penguin-hat, Trafalgar can stay with me tonight. I don't think he wants to be anywhere near that bear of yours."

Startled out of his self-pity, Penguin looked up at Kid's unexpected words. 'B-But I can't just leave him…" Penguin trailed off as he tried to say the right words. He couldn't exactly say he didn't want to leave his captain with a rival crew.

"Penguin-ya, just keep Bepo away… I can't…I can't see him right now", Law rasped from the redheaded supernovas arms, his strained eyes regaining a bit of their focus.

"If it makes you feel better, you can stay with Killer until I get your captain back on track," Kid added. Inwardly was kicking himself, he hated looking like he was being nice. He just wanted to get the other man out of his hair.

Eyes flashing towards the Kid Pirates first mate, who had gone rigid at the mention of his name, Penguin hesitated for a moment. "That would be great, I'm sorry for the intrusion," he replied at last. Even if he had to spend the night with a scary masked man named Killer, he was going to stay as close to his captain as possible.

Kid grunted his acceptance and turned on his heel to walk away, but stopped briefly as Law called out over his shoulder, "Penguin-ya, you have two middle ribs that are cracked and I advise getting them wrapped so they can mend in place and minimalize friction. Find some ice to ease the pain and swelling. If you aren't going back to our ship then have Mister Killer-ya help you."

What was visible of Penguins face turned bright red and his mouth gaped open in shock. Of course, even in this delusional state, Law was still a genius when it came to anatomy and doctoring. When Kid started walking again, he was left to splutter after them, "I-I know that Captain!"

Chancing a glance down at the doctor in his arms, Kid was astonished by the small endearing smile that played on the corner of the lanky supernovas lips. So the Surgeon of Death really did have a heart; at least for his nakama.

+~O~+


	6. Chapter 6

Insomniac, Alcoholic, and Insane?

+~O~+

Ch.6

Since his hands were full, Kid kicked open his steel framed bedroom door with a loud bang after undoing the lock with his devil fruit abilities. He looked down in surprise as the limp doctor groaned.

"What part of _hangover_ don't you understand, Mister Eustass-ya?" Law hissed through his teeth, prying one bloodshot eye open to glare up at the rival supernova's pale face.

"Hmmph… It's not my fault you tried to cure yourself with booze, dumbass," Kid grumbled under his breath as he walked through his room. But the doctor evidently heard him, judging by Law's exasperated huff. Then he remembered the way Law had freaked out after seeing that polar bear, Bepo. Was the Heart Pirate first mate the reason his captain was currently off-his-shit insane? Killer would never do that to him, at least not on purpose. That blond supernova made dogs look like traitorous fucks when it came to loyalty. He was grateful for his first mates faithfulness, though he sure as hell would never say it out loud.

Law bit back the words he wanted to spit out in retaliation. He didn't feel like trying to explain how drowning himself in alcohol had been his way of protecting his nakama. Somehow it sounded pitiful, even to his ears.

When the doctor didn't immediately come back with a snappish reply, Kid stopped in his tracks and looked back down at Law in confusion. Law's hazy eyes looked like they were painfully locked onto something far away. A frown dominated the lower half of the surgeons pallid face, bluish lips curved down in a morbid expression. The lanky body in his arms was cold and clammy. Kid was wondering why Law wasn't shivering, but he remembered the smaller man couldn't even muster the strength the move.

Tearing his eyes away from the sickly man, Kid scowled in thought as he looked around his room. Now that he had salvaged Law from that dingy casino, he didn't know what to do with the deranged man. He _killed_ people, even made a habit of beating the living shit out of random strangers for fun; he didn't go around saving them, let alone care for them.

Wondering why they had stopped, Law looked up at Kids face. Without the goggles his mass of damp red locks had fallen to frame his pale face and down the nape of his neck like a mane. The longer strands near his forehead had been slicked back with seawater, while the shorter ones stubbornly sprang forward. The redhead was chewing on his lower lip, burnt orange orbs glancing around the room. If Law could read the man's thoughts, he was sure that the caveman-like processing would be amusing. But he wasn't about to make fun of the pale captain out loud, and not when the brutish man had been this hospitable. Hell, generous shouldn't have even been part of Kid's vocabulary. His own steel gaze began to scope out what he could see of his fellow supernova's room.

A large dark purple couch, matching the color of their owner's lips, was shoved into a corner. One of the steel walls of the ship was dotted with random wanted posters, some of the older ones had been crossed out with a red marker. Across from a large king sized bed with a metal bed frame covered in animal pelts, there was a positively massive dresser that probably held all of the clothes Kid owned.

As he looked further in, Law was forced to hold in a chuckle when he saw an electric guitar hiding in a dark corner. Its fret board had the Kid Pirates Jolly rodger carved into its sepia surface at regular intervals. Faded outlines of several different shapes and kinds of gears and cogs had been painted on the instruments body. Was heavy metal music the red-haired captain's personal hamartia?

Eustass Kid glanced at his bed, then his couch, and then his bed again. Normally he would have dumped the man on to the floor without any hesitation, or the couch if he was feeling particularly affable. But Law looked so damned pathetic. Kid was worried his bones would snap on the floor; at least that's what he kept telling himself.

'Alright, first step to fix this drunken asshole, who doesn't know how to sleep, is by making him sleep!'

With his decision reached, Kid headed started moving again.

Law's eyes snapped back to Kid as the muscular man started walking out of the blue. He was surprised to say the least when he ended up on top of what had to be the other captain's bed of all places. Kid even had the decency to prop his immobile upper body up with a few pillows placed behind his back.

Crossing his arms in thought, Kid wondered, 'Ok, now what?' He turned his attention back to the tattooed man lying on his bed, almost bursting out laughing at the look on Laws face. The surgeon's dark eyebrows were angled sharply downward, while his gray-in-red eyes were round in what was probably surprise, and the corners of his discolored lips had turned down even further.

"Don't think too hard or you will bust a circuit Trafalgar," Kid snickered, teasing the man in the same manner the doctor had. Before Law could form a counter, he abruptly asked, "So, what's with you and that bear?"

Whatever form of comeback that he had prepared died on Law's lips with the sudden question. All the feelings from the past week, which the surgeon had shoved to the back of his mind, came rushing back in full force. Failure, inadequacy, the despair of letting his nakama down; it left his chest aching, squeezing until his breath hitched in his throat and his tortured eyes stung from the bitterness.

Captain Kid flinched back when large tears rolled from the doctor's bloodshot eyes. They left shiny trails on the gaunt face of the dark-haired captain. If it wasn't for the redness, then maybe he would have seen them coming. "Oi! Trafalgar! Don't start crying on me!" Kid was honestly shocked to see the full grown man crying. Not just any ordinary man, but the Surgeon of Death and a supernova no less. "Are you upset because that bear is the one who took your sword away?"

At this, Law seemed to snap out of it and let out a small wheezing chuckle. "No, my eyes just hurt, you stupid barbarian." He closed his sanguine tainted eyes, hoping the red-haired supernova would just let it go. Suddenly crying in front of the other man was troubling, but Law figured that he wasn't able to filter his emotions in his weakened condition. It had to be the booze and insomnias fault. At least the sea-water was starting to slowly dry off. He could slowly feel his muscle control starting to return.

A frown pulled the corners of the pale captains purple lips down. Kid knew that he wasn't exactly knowledgeable, but he wasn't stupid either. "Trafalgar, I know there is more to it than that, you can't fool me with that eye hurting crap." He watched the doctor cringe as if he had hit him, but Kid continued stomping across the emotional minefield anyway. "Whatever happened between you and that bear is obviously bad enough to keep you awake."

Law cracked opened his eyes to stare at Kid, tears freely rolling down the planes of his face without his eyelids stopping them. He was more than astonished that Kid had figured out the reason for his sleeplessness before he had. But it was probably because he didn't want to admit that he had an issue in the first place, even to himself. That was why he hadn't been able to see the problem. No, he had just been avoiding it, for almost two whole weeks now.

"…That is a surprisingly good deduction, especially coming from you, Eustass-ya."

"Tell me what happened, and then I'll know the reason for why I'm beating the shit out of Bepo", Kid growled. Surely a little bit of violence would help to fix the problem. Heck, it would even be fun too. At least that is what he told himself the reason was, because Kid was definitely not going to beat the crap out of that bear for Trafalgar's sake.

The mattress gave off a loud squeak from the added weight as Kid sat on the foot of the bed, staring at the other man intently. Gesturing impatiently with his hand, Kid said, "Well? Spit it out man."

"If I tell you-

"_When_ you tell me", Kid interrupted. "I think I went through enough of you and your crews dumb shit to deserve an explanation."

Smirking crookedly, Law continued. "I suppose that is fair enough. Fine, _when_ I tell you, you may feel differently about whom you are going to beat the shit out of."

Making himself comfortable, Kid threw his soaked coat onto the floor, yanking his boots off to join it. He shifted so that he could cross his legs on the bed in Indian-style, and propped his elbow on his knee, leaning his head on an open palm. His non-existent brows arched over his head, indicating Law to speak.

Blinking slowly, while leaning his head to the side, Law was somewhat amused at the child-like attentiveness of the muscular redhead. If he didn't know any better, Law would have assumed that he was about to tell Kid a bedtime story.

Letting out a deep shuddering sigh, and sinking further back into the pillow at his back, Law resigned himself to telling his story. "Bepo had asked me to save his father. At first I didn't see the point, but he insisted that it was important because of the biological ties. I had thought that being nakama was enough as far as family goes, but maybe that was only true for me." A sad smile twisted at Laws expression, made all the more wrong because of the tears that kept welling in his gray eyes. "But because of that I couldn't say no to him."

Law swallowed around the feeling in his throat, and stared into the vermilion hued eyes of the other captain, who stared back at him with an unreadable expression. If he had made it this far without ridicule, then the surgeon supposed it was safe to continue.

"When we arrived I quickly learned that Bepo's father had been suffering from a heart condition for years. Even with treatment and surgery, Bepo's father could not have been saved. Despite knowing that, I tried anyway. God, that was so stupid of me." Raising a shaking hand to his face, Law dragged it through his midnight locks and let it fall back to his lap, as if drained of all energy.

Kid watched silently as the doctors jaws clenched together and his tattooed hands clenched at the sheets underneath of him. The flow of tears was coming out stronger now, but Law didn't seem to notice.

"I spent hours in that operating room, only to be able to give Bepo a short moment with his father. It only took those few moments to break his heart. Someone that he didn't even _know_, who left him for dead when he was just a baby, managed to break him in under a minute. Why… Why did I have to do it? Wouldn't it have been better if I did nothing?" Laws teeth gritted together until even Kid could hear them groaning. The tattooed pirate's entire emaciated frame shook with the held back sobs that threated to rip his chest apart.

"But- But I just couldn't. No matter what, I had to do at least something … anything for Bepo…But it turned out so wrong. I couldn't do anything…" He choked on the last words, a strangled sob finally managing to tear its way out of his wasted chest. Law tried to stop, clamping his teeth together to stop his cries, but the feeling seemed intent on ripping itself out of him in the most painful way possible. Any effort to stop the outburst of emotions made the ache all that much worse.

All he could do was lean forward and bury his face into his hands, wishing that he was somewhere else. That none of this had happened. That Bepo and him were fine. That Eustass Kid was not the one to see him break down into a weeping mess.

Law was fully expecting to be slapped across the face and to be told to knock it off, or even to suck it up. Any harsh words that would tell him he shouldn't be crying. Maybe even a swift punch to the head because it had all been his fault. But when two muscular arms wrapped around him and pulled him against a pale chest, the doctor was left stunned. So the words that came next completely broke him.

"Cry. Just let it out. There no use in keeping all those feelings in if they just hurt you. Whenever I get upset, I kill people till I feel better. But that didn't seem to work for you this time. So go ahead and cry. It wasn't your fault. It's fine."

Kid awkwardly patted the dark-haired surgeon back, rubbing the shuddering body in what he assumed was a soothing gesture. He had seen Wire do the same thing for Killer when some obnoxious chick had told the blonde that the scars on his face were ugly. It had worked at the time, but Killer seldom took off his mask after that. His masked first mate even ate with the damned thing on. Kid honestly didn't see a problem with Killers face. Why should a man have to look pretty anyway?

As far as first mates go, Kid couldn't even imagine what it must have felt like to be fighting with your right-hand man, the person who you were supposed to be able to trust with your life. If Killer ever did anything like that to him, he probably would have been a wreck too. They had known each other since they were teenagers and they were practically family. Both of them had fought their way out of the slums, leaving that life to start their own at sea.

Law's forehead roughly bumped into his shoulder, startling the red-haired captain out of his thoughts.

"Baakaaa… I'm not crying," Law growled into Kids chest. He paused to sniffle rather loudly. "I told you my eyes hurt…stupid ruptured blood vessels." Another sob managed to escape from the surgeon, who went on resolutely denying it. "They hurt so much that I can't stand to look at your stupid mug any longer." *Sniff* "So just stay still."

A lopsided grin stretched Kid mouth open. "Yeah yeah, whatever." He felt the wet tears plopping on his chest in hot little splashes, but didn't comment any further on it for both of their sakes.

+~O~+

"This way", Killer called over his should to the Heart Pirate that was quick on his heels. He was starting to wonder why the penguin-hatted man was following so close. Did he get lost easy or something?

"Y-Yes", Penguin squeaked. The Kid Pirate first mate was leading him through the dark interior of their ship, but he still had no idea where they were going. Killer's captain had simply left him in the masked man's hands. This ship was proving to be equally as terrifying in the interior as the exterior, so Penguin decided to preoccupy his thought with something else before he sent himself into full blown panic mode.

Would the rival supernova really be able to help his captain? Penguin was pretty sure that Eustass 'Captain' Kid possessed zero medical skills. But then again, nothing they had tried had worked. Before they reached this island, when their captain had still been on their ship, and he wasn't looking, they had snuck a moderate narcotic into Law's beer glass. From what he could tell, it had not worked at all. The only thing it did accomplish was a dirty look from his captain. Of course Law would notice. But what were they supposed to do when the drugs didn't work?

Suddenly Penguin's face smashed into the solid wall of muscle that was the Kid Pirates back. The latter had stopped, and it was only when he peeled himself from the blonds back that they realized they were in the kitchen. There were stainless steel appliances, metal benches, and tables in the mess hall.

Everything was so _metallic_. Thousands of terrifyingly sharp kitchen knives and other cutlery lined the countertops along with most of the walls. It was like being in the middle of a horror movie butcher shop, only cleaner. All too suddenly Penguin was being lifted up with two hands underneath each of his arms. Yelping when he was abruptly sat on the cold steel countertops, Penguin shivered and stared at the masked man nervously.

"Stay", ordered Killer in the same way one would talk to a dog.

Penguin gaped and made a somewhat offended noise, but the blond supernova had already turned around to dig in what looked like a freezer. Twisting his hands in his lap, he watched warily as Killer dug through the contents of frozen food. From what he could see it looked like there were mostly various kinds of meat and a couple buckets of ice-cream on the top shelf. 'I guess even scary Kid Pirates like ice-cream', Penguin thought, a small amused grin tugging at the corner of his mouth. A sudden pleased sounding exclamation returned his focus to Killer, who walked up to him with a small white bag in his hands.

Penguin looked at the small green label and couldn't resist asking, "Peas?"

"My captain doesn't like peas." Killer awkwardly shuffled his feet, staring at his boots before he slowly lifted his head back up. He offered the frozen bag of vegetables to Penguin, who gingerly took it.

"Thank you", Penguin murmured. He briefly glanced at the other man, but he figured Killer wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. He set the improvised icepack on his lap, steeling himself as he undid the clasp at his jumpsuit collar. Penguin gritting his teeth as he shrugged off the top half of the jumpsuit his arms and shoulders so it pooled around his waist. A sigh of relief whooshed out of him as he was free from the stifling garment.

Penguin was left in a ash gray tank top. Hooking his thumbs under the straps of his wife-beater, he groaned in pain but managed to rip it off of his back. He stared down at his chest and grimaced at the sight. Dark red tinged with deep blue radiated down from his sternum and crept to wrap around the left side of his ribcage. "Holy ow- ow oww…"Penguin hissed as he placed the frozen bag on peas on the worst spot, keeping it pressed with both hands to the place near the upper left of his naval.

Suddenly Killer asked, "How long do you have to keep the ice on?" His captain had really done a number on this poor man, so he somehow felt partly responsible. While Penguin was anything but delicate, given the lean muscles that hung tightly on his slight frame, his captain was not the type to hold back.

"About fifteen minutes should do it. If the swelling doesn't go down I'll try again in an hour."

"Then what about wrapping them, like your captain suggested?"

"Oh, well… I need to wait and see if my ribs continue swelling or not. If they were wrapped now than any swelling could become extremely painful. It would be like trying to inflate a balloon with a rubber band around it", Penguin explained.

"Hmm." Killer went back to the freezer, rustling noises coming from the open door. He returned with a frozen bag of carrots this time. The blond hopped up onto the counter alongside Penguin, and slapped the icy bag onto the middle of the man's chest, electing a choked gasp from the Heart Pirate. "Sorry", Killer apologized sheepishly.

"Brrr- i-it's- s'okay", Penguin gasped around the chattering of his teeth. He shivered violently on the countertop, not just from the cold but from being so close to the masked man. His brain kept sending him warning signals that he was sitting next to a masked man named Killer in the heart of a scary punk metalesque enemy ship.

Killer looked at the man shivering under his hand, and that is when he noticed the colors decorating Penguins back. He leaned in closer for a closer look, recognizing an incredibly detailed terbori tattoo covering most of the bruised back. A north star, made of intricate interlocking patterns and designs, hung over the image of a _penguin _of all things_. _If it wasn't for the breathtaking artwork behind the tattoo Killer might have thought it was ironic. But the beautiful backdrop of in icy landscape, water dotted with icebergs, and the swirls of mist curling across his back only enhanced the striking image.

"Were you in a gang? When did you get this?" Killer asked. Leaning back, he stared at the penguin-hatted man's face. He was surprised when Penguin flinched, as a blush dusted what was visible of his features.

"Umm…well yes", Penguin admitted.

"So why were you in a gang?"

"Well, I used to be a mob doctor. They snatched me up before I could complete my medical studies, so I had no real training. Of course that was before my captain took me in. No one would hire me after I had worked for a crime syndicate." Penguin paused to smile fondly at the memory, his initial embarrassment forgotten. "If it wasn't for my captain I would have given up on my dream of becoming a doctor. Gyahh! Sorry for making you listen to me talking about myself!" He stared back down at his lap; seemingly deflating as he tried to avoid the feeling of the other's masked eyes on him.

"Ah, not at all. It is kind of interesting. Wire used to tell me how he was forced to be in a gang when he was a teen, but he fled that life to live as a pirate! He said there was more freedom here out on the sea." Killer was inwardly pleased when Penguin perked up again and nodded in agreement. "So how did you end up with a penguin?"

"If someone managed to escape from my gang injured, they would send me to finish them off. I would pose as their doctor and…well you get the picture. No one suspected that the doctor was the one behind the sudden and mysterious deaths of certain patients. So when they sent me to kill the competition, they would say I was going off to 'ice' them." Penguin briefly smirked at the strange saying. "Also, the name partly came from that I was known for having cold hands. Those guys were such wusses when it came to patching them up! Eventually they somehow ended up calling me Penguin, and well it just sort of stuck. Apparently they had thought that it would be nice to stick it on my back too. It was their personal way of owning me. No one would hire a doctor with no training, and especially not one with a tebori tattoo. None of that mattered when I joined the Heart Pirates. Our captain taught me himself, and I found my purpose again. For that I'm grateful."

"Hmm, your captain is not the creep that everyone makes him out to be", Killer voiced, respect underlining his words.

Grinning proudly, Penguin said, "Law may same harsh, but when it comes to nakama, he is something like a brother. Maybe even a father, since he took us all in. He gave most of us another chance at life."

"What about Bepo? Your captain looked like he was ready to kill your first mate back there."

Penguin sighed heavily, regretting it as his lungs pressed against his fractured ribcage. "Our captain had tried to help Bepo, but something went wrong. Bepo was so broken afterwards. He just lost it. Him and Law fought soon afterwards. It was only until later that Bepo realized the truth, but by then it was too late."

"So why haven't they made up yet?"

"As you know, because of Law's condition no one has been able to get near him. If someone brought the subject up they risked ending their own lives."

"Oh." Killer shook his head sadly. He should have known that there wouldn't be a quick fix for a deranged supernova. It made him appreciate the bond between him and his own captain.

"Alright, I think that's enough ice for now", Penguin said, bringing the blond out of his thoughts.

"Let's go to the infirmary. I don't think you will want to sleep in the men's room tonight."

"Ah, sure." Penguin scooted off the edge of the countertop, hissing as his landing jarred his bruised torso. He held his ribs as he followed the masked man through the ship once more.

The metal ship, swaying in the gently churning ocean, creaked softly in the night. Star glittered overhead, unrestricted in intensity thanks to the moonless sky. The yellow ship of the Heart Pirates floated near the metal craft. Each of the ships lights slowly died out one by one, as the pirate crews inhabiting the vessels settled in for the night.

+~O~+

**Sub Authors Note: **

**Hallo guys, sorry for the late update, but my muse and ego took a rather big hit recently x3x. And I have been piled with stress and work. Shit has been crazy man…**


	7. Chapter 7

Insomniac, Alcoholic, and Insane?

**Authors Note:**

**An Ode to the Blushing Wars: a ritual between friends to see who dies of blushing first.**

**Alright…you know it is bad (hot) when the author has to go get a cold drink to continue writing … several cold drinks… Mahh I need to take up drinking. Enjoy my fellow perverts. Especially you ****Jitt****. *w***

+~O~+

Ch.7

Inwardly sighing, Law remained slumped against Eustass Kid's pale chest. His forehead was planted against the other man's muscular shoulder, saving him from further embarrassment. Crying had been a massive drain of his energy, and he did not have much left in him to begin with. To be honest, the surgeon was surprised he was still awake after two weeks spent with zero sleep, a bar fight, flying across town on Kid's back, a plunge in the ocean, and now having a mental break down in front of the rival captain. Also, using his devil fruit powers too much left him weak. His temporary insanity, yes temporary, had allowed Law to go over his normal limits, but at the cost of leaving him drained. Law blamed his sad mental state for not using his powers more sparingly.

His puffy eyes remained closed, radiating pain in a steady pulse. Law was sure they had probably swollen shut from all the waterworks. They hurt too much for him to test that theory though. Kid's warm chest was rather comfortable too, not that he cared to admit it out loud. Maybe if he stayed still long enough he would fall asleep. 'God I'm tired. I just want to sleep.'

Staring down at the man in his arms, who had gone limp against his chest, Eustass Kid tried to estimate how much time had passed. It had taken awhile, but Law's shuddering and tears had come to an end. The captain's messy black hair, sticking out at sharp angles, was the only visible feature of his head. He wasn't even sure if Law was still awake. Kid told himself he had done a pretty good job being patient, considering he preferred hurting others, and definitely not comforting them. But now his patience was reaching an end.

"Oi… Trafalgar. You still awake?" Kid was surprised when he felt a rush of air against his chest as the doctor sighed through his nose. He was starting to wonder if Law was even human. Any normal person would have passed out long before now.

"Unfortunately. You should shut up. I was rather enjoying the silence."

Before Kid could growl out a retort, his nose was once again filled with the bitter smell that seemed to hang on Law like a second skin. 'He probably hasn't been taking care of himself. When you are that deranged, I guess a bath isn't exactly the first thing that comes to mind.'

"…Well, you will have to enjoy the silence somewhere else. You smell like weak old booze drenched in sweat." Kid felt Law stiffen against him in indignation. He stared at the clammy doctor in his arms. The dark-haired man was unnaturally cold, both his toes and fingers had become even darker. "What the hell Trafalgar!? You're sweating enough to stink up my entire room, but your freezing!"

"Because of my insomnia, my sympathetic nervous system and endocrine system have degenerated. Without any proper chemical and hormone output, my body is no longer able to maintain or regulate homeostasis. My sudoriferous glands have been inadvertently sent into hyperactivity, most likely due to the improper impulses." Law stopped for a quick breath, but immediately continued when he regained enough air. "But, I suppose it's not all that bad. The smell means my body is flushing out some of the toxins from my bloodstream."

Kid gave off a pained groan while directing a look of long-suffering at the babbling doctor. Somehow he swallowed his pride enough to ask, "What does that mean exactly?" For a moment Trafalgar Law just sat in silence. The red-haired man was sure that some kind of caveman gorilla joke was coming.

But then Law surprised Kid by compensating him with a quick summary. "I can't control my body temperature, or anything that regulates it - like with sweating or shivering. However, my uncontrolled perspiration seems to be flushing out some harmful substances."

"…So, you are sweating out booze?"

"Well, yes. Technically you could say that."

"Fine. Whatever the reason is – you still stink. In fact, if I stank as bad as you do right now, I would not be able to sleep either. Also, there is no way I'm letting you make my bed smell like sweaty piss beer." With that said, Kid held Law against his chest, moving his arms underneath of the doctor legs to support the other man. It meant his hands were uncomfortably near Laws ass, and the doctors legs were wrapped around him, but Kid tried not to think about any of that.

Law cracked one eye open. He was feeling way too tired to complain about the manhandling. His brain was more concerned with other things. "Where are we going, Eustass-ya?" Letting his tired head rest on one of the broad shoulders, Law draped an arm around the opposite shoulder so he wouldn't fall off.

"The shower," Kid growled, stomping off towards the bathroom. He kicked aside a wrench he had forgotten to put away as he stormed across his room. 'How is it that_ I_ am the one taking care of this dumbass? I should have made Killer take care of him.'

'Shower…a shower sounds nice.' After spending around a week in a casino, full of dead people, and in the same filthy surgery scrubs; Law was feeling gritty. The dip in the ocean had only made him feel even more grime encrusted. It was only when the tattooed man was carried in to the bathroom that he started connecting what should have been the obvious dots. 'Shit… a shower means naked -naked in front of an enemy -in front of the red-haired moron that is Eustass Kid.'

Frowning at the thought, Law's inner self brought up another viewpoint. 'Do you really want to sleep covered in week old blood and booze infused sweat? Also, imagine all the dead skin cells that have accumulated. Along with all of the sebum that is sure to have been secreted from your follicles. Yes, your hair is most definitely as nasty as it feels. Being naked shouldn't matter anyway. You are both men. Eustass-ya isn't going to give you a choice in the matter either, so suck it up Trafalgar.'

'While you are at it, you should stop talking to yourself too.'

'Yes, I agree.'

'If you agree, then shut up already.'

'Why don't _you_ shut up? This is _my_ mind you know. Stupid subconscious asshole…'

'You know…that's like calling yourself a - never mind. You are seriously fucked up man.'

The sound of a faucet being turned on, and the spray of water against tiles, brought Law out of his inner monologue. His single bloodshot eye refocused on the bathroom, which was surprisingly plain compared to its owner. White towels were stacked in a black wire towel rack. Gray bathroom tile filled his one-eyed vision. Only the red spray painted outlines of gears and cogs broke up the colorless monotony.

Kid stuck his hand under the spray, testing out the water temperature. Once satisfied, he promptly stepped into the spray with their clothes still on, a deranged doctor, and all. Why bother waiting for the water to reheat, when both he and Trafalgar could take one shower together and get it over with. Their clothes were still mostly wet from the ocean too. Although, the other supernova clearly did not share in his logic, or maybe he just wasn't expecting it. Law was spluttering and squirming against him, so Kid sat the lanky man down on the shower seat.

"Eustass-ya," Law groused, squeezing his eyes shut against the sudden torrent of water. Raising his tattooed hands, the doctor shielded his face from the water the best that he could. He could hear the clicking sound of what was probably being a bottle opened, but he wouldn't risk opening his eyes to confirm that. Abruptly, Law felt large hands scrubbing against his scalp, lathering his hair with enough force that it would have knocked him over if Law didn't relocate his hands to the side of his seat. As he continued to hold onto his seat with what felt like for dear life, the scent of coconut and vanilla made itself known.

'Coconut and vanilla?' Law's brained spiraled around the scent. 'I was expecting something like spice and blood, not this.'

'What would the point of blood scented shampoo be?' His inner self argued.

'…I don't know! Anything but fucking vanilla and coconuts would make more sense.'

"Shuttup Trafalgar! Killer told me this was the best kind of shampoo for hair! And he sure as hell has more hair than the both of us combined, so he ought to know!"

"What? Since when can Eustass-ya read my thoughts?"

"Fucking Dumbass! You are talking to yourself! Now shut your face before you get a mouthful of soap you goddamn moronic bastard!" Kid continued lathering the lanky man's hair. But he was wondering to himself how strange Trafalgar would get before he finally collapsed. Maybe the doctor had finally lost it, or had it always been lost?

Moving so the shower could spray all the soap out of the Law's hair, Kid quickly lathered up his own hair, replacing the shampoo back with the other bottles when he was done. Glancing at the doctor, who still had his eyes closed, Kid kicked off his now long drenched pants and boxers into one of the shower stall corners. Now completely naked, he grabbed a bottle of body wash and poured more than strictly necessary into his hands.

Law could hear the other man attending to his own hair, but when a different smell filled the shower he shielded one of his eyes so he could squint. The first thing he noticed was the pair of long, muscular, pale, and naked legs directly in front of him. He hastily covered his face with both hands at the realization that the other man was in the nude, bathing alongside his rival like it was completely natural.

Hearing a smacking noise, Kid stopped in the middle of scrubbing his body clean to stare back at the doctor. His nonexistent eyebrows arched in mild surprise. Law had his head in both of his hands, leaning on both of his thin elbows to hunch forward. "What's with you, Trafalgar? Aren't you doctor types supposed to be used to seeing naked people? Or are you jealous?"

"I got soap in my eye," Law replied lamely. Kid was right; he should have no problem with other people's nudity. It was a common enough occurrence in the medical field, something that was just necessary and unavoidable. He had seen it all, so why was now any different? According to the standard anatomical proportions, it was only expected for the pale man to be larger in all areas.

"I told you to keep your face shut," Kid sneered.

Law skillfully changed the subject. "Why are you using mint body wash?"

Feeling a little defensive, Kid growled irritably, but in a level voice he answered, "Wire told me I needed to use this stuff because I have sensitive skin, so shut up." The red-haired supernova was surprised when the dark-haired man hemmed thoughtfully.

"Those with pale complexions, such as you, often have very sensitive skin," Law agreed.

Narrowing his eyes, Kid looked at the doctors own caramel colored flesh that was decorated with black tattoos. Did they go beyond the upper body, those lean arms, and those skillful fingers? The red-haired captain moved towards Law, and abruptly voiced, "I'm taking off you pants." The reaction he got to this was unexpectedly amusing.

Sputtering in surprise, Law lifted his head from his face. Eyes, blowing wide open thanks to the large body shielding him from the spray, locked with the crimson orbs of the other man. All his mentally fatigued brain could come up with to ask is, "_Why!?"_

Purple lips parting in a malevolent smirk, Kid laughed harshly at the other man's shock for a moment. "Because those pants are nasty, and you still stink." He started to pull the others scrub pants off, but a bare foot was roughly planted against his face. "Trafalgar…" Kid growled, slowly peeling the offending extremity off.

"I can take off my own pants."

Kid, rolling his burnt orange eyes, huffed out a sigh. "Fine. Whatever. Go. Just do it."

"Don't wanna," Law pouted childishly, crossing his tattooed arms over his chest.

"…" An uncontrollable twitching took hold of Eustass Kid's eye as his purple lips were drawn in a disbelieving frown. What was this doctor's problem? Oh that's right; he was dealing with an insane nut job hopped up on too much booze and no sleep. Just great. "Are you a kid or something!? Just take off your stupid ass pants already!"

"No, you're Kid. Remember?" Law giggled, yes giggled, at the great joke he had just made. 'Eustass-ya really set himself up for that one.'

"Ughh…" Kid smacked a hand over his face, exasperated over the strange change in behavior. "Are sudden mood swings normal?"

"Hmm…" Law placed a finger against his lip, thinking about the redheaded man's words. Was he acting odd? If the outlandish Eustass 'Captain' Kid was calling him the strange one, then it must be true. At least what was left of his logic was telling him so. "Maybe it's the mental fatigue finally showing. Oh, and your lipstick is starting to smear."

"What!? It's waterproof! It can't be smearing!"

"Maybe you shouldn't hit yourself in the face then. It's bad for your brain… and your makeup."

"You little…that's it!" Snarling, Kid grabbed onto the waistband of the doctors scrub pants, viciously yanking them off. However, the force of their removal had the doctor sliding off the seat.

"Owch!" Law yelped when he slid hard onto the shower floor, smacking the back of his head against the seat. "You are mean," the doctor whined, rubbing the back of his abused skull. Somehow hitting the floor with his head and a hangover did not mix. He squeezed his eyes shut, both to block out the image of the naked man above him and the water spraying down, perhaps even the pain radiating from the back of his head. The shower floor was cold, and definitely not somewhere he wanted to be.

"Yeah, and you are a total dumbass." Kid took one look at the scrawny doctor, and shook his head at the pitiful sight. Sighing deeply, the red-haired pirate kneeled down, picking Law up by grabbing underneath both of his armpits. He sat the smaller man back down on the seat, and turned to grab the body wash he had set aside. "Here wash yourself," Kid snapped, thrusting the bottle at Law, who sat staring at him with sad gray eyes. "Oii don't look at me like that Trafalgar! You should have listened the first time instead of trying to act cute!" Eustass Kid regretted the last word as soon as it left his mouth. He hoped to hell that the doctor was too screwed up in the head to catch the last word. There was no way some little tattooed creep like him was _cute._

Law took the bottle in silence, fidgeting with it awhile, and finally flipped the cap open with a thumb. As he poured a fair amount in his hands, his slate eyes gazed blankly at the pale supernova. "Hnn…now I know why you wanted my pants off."

"You- egotistic- asshole!" Kid spluttered in rage, his face soon matching his fiery mane of hair.

Blatantly ignoring the shocked expression on the others face, Law slapped some soap underneath each of his armpits, scrubbing at the primary sources of odor. With that done he squirted some more soap and started rubbing down his chest and arms. Leaning forward, he gave the same treatment to his legs. "M' Done," Law said triumphantly, smirking up at the redhead, who was rubbing at his temple in annoyance.

Kid stopped his brain massage to look down at the tattooed supernova, whose caramel colored skin was lathered from head to toe with white suds. Blood suddenly rushed straight to his face, causing a radiant glow in his cheeks that the red-haired captain quickly disguised by angrily yelling, "No you're not! You forgot your back, you fucking quack doctor!" Before Law could open his mouth in complaint, Kid snatched the bottle from him, squirting a palm-full into his hands, and slapped it on the doctors back.

Tensing at the sudden contact, fits of uncontrolled giggles burst out of Law, as Kid unknowingly ran his hands over his sensitive back. "Pffft Don't! Eyaahh! Stop it Eustass-ya! Hahaha!"

Purple lips pulling back in a wicked grin, Kid seized the unexpected opportunity. In what could only be described a true act of Satanism, he started mapping which parts of the doctor's back produced the loudest giggles, assaulting those spots with rapidly fluttering fingertips. The way the fatigued muscles jumped and twitched uncontrollably underneath his fingers was somehow empowering. "Haaahh? What was that Trafalgar? Don't stop?" Multitasking had never felt so good.

Tears forming in the corner of his eye from the intensity of laughter, Law pushed against the others pale chest, trying his best to stop the tickling torture. Despite his laughter, doctor Trafalgar could not stand those feather light touches. Every single one of his muscles complained at making such an effort, but he was unable to stop them from tensing up. But, that was not the worst part. Those damn tickling sensations. Surely no greater torture existed than this inhuman assault to his nerve endings. It had to end. So, in an unexpectedly firm tone; he growled, "I said…_Stop_!"

"Eyyooowwcchh!" Kid abruptly let go of the surgeon, holding both of his hands over one of his abused nipples, which had been savagely twisted by the smaller man. "That hurt you little shit!" Removing his hands, Kid chanced a peek at his nipple that now was a dark shade of purple.

"Purple nurple," Law crowed, sticking his tongue out at the fuming redhead.

"You…" Eustass Kid trembled in rage, holding his shaking fists at his side so he wouldn't resort to hitting that damned deranged doctor. 'Come on, don't hit a sick person. There is no point in arguing with a psychopath…crazy always wins. And Trafalgar has you beat in crazy right now.'

Sighing through his nose, Kid grabbed the doctor by the upper arms and hauled Law to his feet. "Alright, bedtime for bad doctors."

'Mmm maybe I took things too far,' Law thought to himself, suddenly feeling kind of bad for the man who was trying to take care of him.

"No shit Trafalgar." Kid shoved the dark-haired captain under the shower head, letting the water spray off all of the soap suds. He ignored the apologetic smile from the other man, and half carried- half dragged the both of them out of the shower. Law stumbled on his wobbly legs, but Kid kept a firm grip around his upper arm, not allowing the surgeon to fall.

Snatching a towel off the rack, the red-haired supernova threw it onto the doctor's head, releasing Law's arm so that he could rub the others hair dry. The tattooed captain was trembling on his feet, but he was still standing, so Kid continued to roughly scrub at the others skull.

Barely managing to stay on his feet, Law yelped at the strength behind the others assault. It felt like his head was going snap off his neck. Just as Law was sure that his skull would be detached from his spine, his head was released. Pulling the towel from his ruffled hair, the dark-haired supernova relocated it to his shoulders so he was no longer blinded by the fabric.

Kid was wrapping a towel around his waist, so when he was done he allowed his focus to return to Trafalgar, who was standing there in a daze. Resisting the urge to laugh, he simply watched as the doctor swayed in place with a dazed expression. His tired gray eyes stared at nothing in particular, simply glazed over in disorientation. It was like looking at one of those fuzzy kittens who just woke up with a mean case of bed fur- only not as cute of course. Trafalgar Law, the creep doctor, was not cute.

Once the feeling of lightheadedness had passed, Law narrowed his eyes at the towel around the other man's hips. 'That's not fair. Where's mine?' Huffing at the injustice, Law slipped the towels from his shoulders, once again relocating it, so that it wrapped around his waist in a similar fashion to Kid's. A yawn unexpectedly dragged itself out of his chest. "M' tired," Law groused, rubbing at his eyes with the back of his hands.

'Ughh…it's like babysitting a psychopath.' Kid shook his head, grabbing the doctor's arm as he led him back to the bedroom. When they reached the bed, Kid helped Law onto the mattress, by throwing him of course.

Law, laughing at what he saw as fun ride, bounced on the surface a few times. Sitting back against the pillows, he watched as Kid wandered over to the large dresser, picking out a loose fitting pair of dark blue pajama pants. After the red-haired man had slipped into those, he came back to Law with baggy gray and red plaid pajama bottoms that were at least six sizes too large.

Kid threw the garment at the half-zoned out doctor, who stared at the pants in his lap like it was a fucking new species. He really didn't want to spend any more time than necessary with Law. Things were starting to get awkward. The red-haired captain was hoping that the smaller man would just pass out already. 'Trafalgar is really starting to lose it.'

"Mhh, looks like a kilt," Law suddenly voiced, smirking at the pants like he had just figured out a big secret. He stretched the pants between his hands experimentally, taking time to marvel at the elasticity of the waistband. Ignoring Kid, who had smacked a hand over his face again, Law threw his towel off and began pulling the pants up his legs. Sighing when he was done, he looked up at Kid expectantly. "I'm thirsty."

Gritting his teeth, Kid ground out, "What do you want me to do about it?"

"Get me a glass of water please," Law replied smartly with a smile.

"…If I do… you have to go to bed. Understand?"

"Water…" Law whined, sticking his lower lip out in a pout.

"Dammit," Kid cursed, stomping off in defeat.

Allowing a victorious smirk to spread across his face, Law adjusted his posture so he was more comfortable against the pillows, and patiently waited for the redhead to return. Schooling his features back into a blank frown as he heard the returning footsteps, he watched as Kid stomped up to him, thrusting a glass of water into his face.

The red-haired supernova glared at the doctor, who gingerly took the glass from him and drained its contents in a matter of seconds. He snatched the empty glass from Law and slammed it irritably on a small bedside table that was off to the side. "Anything else, princess?" Kid sneered.

"Tuck me in."

For a moment Kid just stared, not expecting his offer to have been taken seriously. 'Remember the kind of idiot you're dealing with. Trafalgar isn't himself. Just get him to sleep and you will never have to deal with this level of stupidity again,' he inwardly consoled himself. Taking a deep breath, Kid pulled the covers over the doctor, tucking them in around the smaller man's thin sides. "Happy?" Kid managed to grate out, doing his best not to let his eye or mouth twitch.

"Mmm yes…" Law smiled up at the red-haired man. He wiggled his body further into the covers, snuggling against the surprisingly soft sheets. The Kid Pirate Captain's bed was surprisingly comfy.

A loud pulse rang in Kids ears, sending a wave of heat through his chest and up to his face. Startled at the sudden feeling, Kid spun on his heel, aiming to make a bee-line for his purple couch, but was stopped by a tugging on the back of his pants. Because the pants were so loose, whatever had attached to the back of his pants had pulled them away from his body enough so that Kid felt a cold draft against his naked rear. Spinning around on his heel again, he seethed in annoyance, only to stop dead as he realized it had been Trafalgar Law who had grabbed onto his pants. "_What!" _Kid hissed through his teeth.

"Sleep with me."

'S-Sleep…with y- you…' Kid's brain seemed to stop, the last words echoing in his head. This time he couldn't stop the rapid flushing of his pale face if he tried. In a slightly weakened tone, he repeated, "_What…?"_

"I can't sleep alone. Bepo used to sleep with me, but he's not here," Law said with a dejected looking frown. Bepo had always been there for him at night as a best friend, and pillow.

Letting out a great sigh of relief, which the doctor took as annoyance, Kid let his shoulders slump. 'So that's what he meant…' The red-haired pirates mind trails were starting to disturb even him. "…Fine, but you better go to sleep, or so help me I'm knocking you out myself."

Law simply smiled up at him again, not with that sarcastic scheming smirk, but a genuine pleased expression, which seemed to melt all and any of the defenses and complaints Kid had generated.

Narrowing his eyes, Kid walked around to the other side of the bed, flinging back the covers so he could get in-between them. 'Ugghhh this is so damn awkward.' After pulling the covers back over them both, Kid immediately folded his arms across his chest. He was determined to sit awake and wait until the other man fell asleep so he could go pass out on the couch later.

Shifting of the mattress was the only warning the redhead got before he felt and saw a tan arm fling over his chest. Kid froze, only allowing his eyes moving to follow the doctor, who was moving to snuggle against his side.

Moving onto his side, Law slid across the bed till he was pressed against the mass of pale muscles that was Kid. It was not plush and furry like Bepo, but Kids skin was smooth and soft after that hot shower. That body wash really seemed to work. 'Warm,' the doctor's brain inwardly hummed in satisfaction. But there was no place for his head, so Law took the liberty of moving one of the other mans stunned arms into a more suitable position.

Breath hitched in Eustass Kids throat as the tattooed supernova maneuvered under his arm until the other man's still damp head was resting on his shoulder. 'Sneaky little cuddle demon! I'm not his damn teddy bear!' Kid was going to move, he really was, but the look of contentment on Law's face stopped him. Every inch of the doctor's gaunt features had finally relaxed, except for a small smile that decorated his normally sarcastic mouth. '…Maybe he really will sleep this way.' Accepting his fate, Kid slowly lowered his arm to settle against the doctors back.

+~O~+

"Eustass-ya," a soft voice murmured from the red-haired captain's shoulder and near his ear.

"What," Kid grunted, disturbed from near sleep. What felt like hours had passed and he had started to drift off, lulled by the warmth of another person's body heat mingling with his own. The Kid pirate had inadvertently become comfortable in this strange cuddling position.

"I can't sleep."

'What…the…_fuck_. We have been laying here for hours and he _still_ can't sleep!?' Kid took a deep calming breath, which the doctor felt since he was half splayed across one of his pectorals. "How is it even possible that you are still awake?"

"I'm a broken man Mister Eustass-ya. I feel tired and the need to sleep, but I can't seem to fall asleep. You don't seem to be able to sleep down there either."

"Eyagh!" Kid flinched when Law raised a leg, which had wrapped around one of his own, till the knee bumped into his crotch. There was no use in denying what clearly was the beginning signs of an arousal forming in his pants, especially not when Law had stuck his knee right against it. Even as heat went straight to his face, and his groin, in a complicated mixture of fury and other things, Kid glared at the doctor who stared at him with a half-lidded expression like it was no big deal.

In a bored tone, Law attempted to redirect the red faced captain's obvious mortification. "No need to be embarrassed. You are still young and have plenty of sex drive hormones working in your system. Part of nature's special way of ensuring procreation." In a low undertone that was barely audible, the doctor muttered, "…too bad the side effects leave most of the male population as sex crazed morons."

An evil gleam suddenly appeared in Kids cinnabarine eyes. With a wicked smile, he leaned in towards Law's ear and seductively whispered, "Then I have a great idea that will benefit the both of us. As a doctor and a fellow man, you should know that having an orgasm will make you tired. There's no way you will not be asleep by the time I'm done with you."

'…. What did he say?' Laws brain seemed to grind to a screeching halt. The rival captain's voice was an echo in his mind with no clear words behind those purple lips. All too suddenly he was being dragged onto the pale man's lap, forcing them back to chest. Alarm signals washed through the tattooed pirate's intoxicated brain, but far too late. Pushing behind him with his arms in an attempt to sit up, Law fought to get out of the trap that was the bigger man's body. However, one firm tug from that muscular arm with the hand planted against his chest, and his back was pushed against a wall of muscle. Primal fear took over a part of Law, and he desperately arched off the bed with his legs, planting his heels into the mattress, as he fought to get away.

Keeping the doctor pinned to his chest with one arm, Kid could feet Law's heart rate start to rapidly pulse underneath of his hand. He put that to the back of his mind, focusing his concentration on shutting down all of the lanky pirate's attempts of escape. Kid maneuver a leg so that it hooked over one of Law's, and then raised his other leg so that one of his own knees stuck up into the air. With his free hand, he took hold of Law's remaining leg and hooked it over the raised joint. The smaller supernova's arms were not strong enough to pose a much of a treat, so Kid left those alone, satisfied that he had both the other man's torso and lower body locked up with his own.

Law felt anxiety creep up into his chest, climbing up into his throat, and making it hard to breath. Each heart beat sounded incredibly loud in the silent night. It took every ounce of the dark-haired captains will not to stutter as he whispered, "What are you doing? Let go." He tried shoving against the others chest again with his arms, but it was useless.

"I'm going to get us off, so we both can go to sleep," Kid breathed into Law's ear, pleased by the small shudder it elicited. He grazed his teeth down the rim of the ear, coming to stop at the earrings settled in the lobe, and gently ran his tongue over them.

A gasp escaped Law as something incredible hot and wet traced his outer ear and started sucking on his earrings. His brain finally locked onto the implications of Eustass Kid's words, settling into his mind as a terrifying concept. "No fucking way! Go rub it out in the bathroom! Just leave me out of your monkey urges!" Growling, Law tried started squirming, seeking any means of escape. He was not about to be used as a sexual aid! Law felt the hand on his chest move just before one of his nipples was roughly tweaked, causing him to cry out sharply in both surprise and pain.

'Revenge~…and, not bad. I wonder what other sounds he can make.' Keeping a hold on the small bud, Kid twisted it in his fingers as he breathed, "That would defeat the purpose of getting you to sleep. This is no different than masturbation. So, just let me get us off.'

"What the hell! This is way different than masturbation! You perverted dickbrain!" Doing that kind of thing in front of Kid- no- _with_ Kid, was definitely not normal. Law continued to struggle against the others hold, making the nipple still in Kid's hand radiate small aching shocks because of his frenzied movements. He stiffened as he felt Kid's other hand begin to trail down his abdomen, the fingers leaving a burning trail that made his stomach muscles tremble in response. When those fingers started slipping past the loose elastic waistband, Law instinctively reached out to clutch at that arm with both of his hands, trying to halt them. "Stop! You goddamn child molester!"

"Pfft, you're older than I am." Kid continued his hands downward path despite the doctors struggling, following a thin happy trail down to his goal. When his finger reached the semi hard length of Law's arousal, he was surprised by the loud moan that was quickly bit off as he wrapped his fingers around it. Lips curling in a delighted smirk, Kid breathed into Laws ear once again, whispering, "What's the matter Trafalgar? Been awhile since your last fuck, or have you not jacked off in a while? You sure are getting excited by this _molester_."

"Nngggh…Unlike you I don't fuck my own hand," Law spat. He hissed as Kid continued to twist his nipple, occasionally brushing a large finger over the tip. It was more painfully awkward than anything else.

Instead of being offended, Kid just laughed, giving the silky flesh in his hands another squeeze. Law gave a frustrated groan as he tightened his smaller hands around the pale arm delving into his pants. "What? Too proud to take care of your urges by yourself, or do you frequent the whore houses?"

"Tsk, no. I'm a doctor and I have to keep my hands clean." Law gritted his teeth, breath hitching in his throat as a thumb grazed over the head of his growing erection. "Besides, I would never risk catching any of those crotch rotting diseases that are sure to be infesting those run down harlots."

"Hah, lucky me. That explains why you are so sensitive." Kid gave one firm upward stroke, as if to emphasize his point.

"Ahhh…" Law's breath hitched from the sudden pleasure that lit up his nerves, sending warm electricity bolting to his lions. He didn't need to see his face to know it was flushing over in a bright red. Removing one of his hands that had been holding onto Kids arm, Law covered his mouth when a moan ripped itself out on its own accord. Those brute's hands were not supposed to be so gentle.

Kid swallowed around the collection of saliva that had gathered in his mouth. He could feel all of the muscles in Law's back trembling and twitching against his chest. Those poorly contained moans just topped the whole fucking cake. He watched as his lanky captives captured legs jerked when he ran his finger along a vein running along the others now dripping hard length. Law's head slammed back into his shoulder, and that's when Kid noticed the doctor had covered his mouth. Somehow it was an incredibly hot sight, especially when Law's hips started bucking into his hand, and the foot hanging in the air gave a small spasmodic kick with each stroke. There were also those tiny little droplets that hung on the end of his dark lashes, and the faint blush running across his caramel colored cheeks, to consider. 'Trafalgar isn't cute, but I'll admit he is sexy like that.'

Small tears of embarrassment began to form in the corner of Law's eyes. It really had been awhile since his last time; in fact he couldn't even remember. Why did it have to be his red-haired rival who was reducing him to nothing but putty? Reduced to gasping in quick little amounts of air in-between trying not to moan, his breathing was now far more rapid in shallow. He wasn't going to last much longer, and coming so early would be a grave wound to his pride. Law poured all of his focus into trying to hold in the feeling that blossomed from his nether regions, seemingly consuming him with those painfully pleasant shivers that racked his body.

Quite suddenly he felt Kid move behind him with frightening speed. Before Law realized what was happening, he found his back pinned to the mattress, and the massive form of Eustass Kid wedged between his legs. Law's eyes widened in shock, he hadn't been expecting that kind of speed from someone so huge. Slowly he raised his line of sight to look up into the other man's pale face. The shear amount of lust held in those vermillion discs caused a violent shudder to run through Law. It was like staring into the eyes of an animal gone into heat, only far hungrier.

Large teary gray eyes stared up at him, sending Kid's heart into an erratic rhythm, and searing blood strait to his pants. Speaking of pants, Kid was really feeling the need to get rid of them. Leaning back on his heels, he sharply tugged off Law's pajama pants, leaving the smaller man in full naked glory.

Law hissed at the sudden exposure. With little to no prior thought, he shoved one of his bare feet in the pale man's face again. He thought he was _stunned_ when Kid caught his foot, but he was absolutely _horrified _when the other man started nibbling on his toes. A large wet tongue caressing the top of his foot was the final nail in the coffin. Law _squeaked_ at the tickling sensation. The doctor quickly bit into the side of his hand to stop any further noise from escaping.

'Ok…_that _was kind of cute.' Kid grinned around the foot for a moment, but released it so he could start to get his own pants off. Moving till he could pin the lanky man to the bed with his chest, Kid pulled his dark blue pants down with one hand while keeping hold of one of Trafalgar's hands with the other.

With one of his hands currently seized in the red-haired supernova's grip, Law was forced to try and squeeze himself out from underneath Kid with only his remaining hand against a pale shoulder. But, it was really hard to breathe in the tight space between Kid and the mattress, so between his smaller build and fatigue, Law's chances of escape were about nothing.

Now that there was nothing separating them to stop their skin contact, Kid shifted till their hips aligned. Gyrated his pelvis experimentally, the pale captain brushed their lengths together, groaning in satisfaction. Nails digging into his shoulder prompted Kid to lift his eyes and look into the doctor's face for a reaction. Law's jaw had gone slack, his mouth open in a silent cry, and his gray iris' were rolled into the back of his head.

The dark-haired supernova heard and felt a groan stirring in the chest pressed against his. Fluttering his eyes open, Law managed to look down at the man pressed on top of him. He felt the blood in his face rise up all the way to his ears when eye contact was made. Kid was panting, the pulse in his neck visibly throbbing, sweat gleaming on his marble colored skin, and staring at him like he was edible.

Kid smirked as Law's hooded eyes finally rolled back to stare at him. The other man's slack facial features were soon highlighted with a rosy hue that stretched across his caramel colored cheeks. Sliding both oh his arms underneath of the doctor's back, Kid gripped onto the thin shoulders. Successfully anchored onto the other man, Kid slowly thrust his hips forward, slicking them both up with the precum that had dripped onto Law's taunt belly.

Hips jerking in response, Law groaned loudly at the odd sensation of another man's organ sliding against his. "Stop…ahh…" Law gasped breathlessly. He bit his lips closed, as he pushed against the red-haired man's broad shoulders. However, his noise evidently encouraged the pale supernova to keep thrusting, if the continuous rhythm of Kid's hips said anything. Between the larger man's hot breath brushing across his chest with each low grunt, and the steady wet squishing noises, even Law's ears were not spared from the assault.

The pushing on Kid's shoulders at some point had turned into clutching. Law must have been too far gone to fight it anymore. From his position over Law, the pale captain could see the smaller man trying to hold in his moans by biting down on his lower lip. But, the doctor wasn't entirely succeeding in that effort. Kid could feel the moans vibrating within the thin chest underneath of him. It was oddly satisfying knowing that he was the one causing Law to unravel and moan because of him.

Law was coming undone, and he knew it. There was no way he could hold out against Eustass, who had started to increase the pace of his grinding as if he knew the end was near. A staggered moan stuttered past his lips as the redhead rubbed against him in a particularly sensitive spot. He arched off the bed, gasping as Kid continued his merciless attack.

Grinning in triumph, Kid thrust his hips hard into that spot, rutting against it with extra effort. He was surprised when the tattooed man suddenly whimpered. With no additional warning, Law's thin hips violently shuddered against his own as the doctor splashed both of their chests with hot cum. Even after Law's body went lifeless and limp, Kid continued to thrust a few more times, driving himself into completion. He gave a gasping sigh as he released his own seed between their bellies.

Breathing deeply, Kid allowed the musky smell to fill his nose, slumping as his post orgasmic bliss washed through him. The sweaty odor was surely the signs of sex gone right, even if it erased the efforts of their shower. His nerves and muscles singed with their sweet efforts. 'Even though that was dry humping, it was really hot…'

A thought, which had been tucked into the far back of his conscious, suddenly made itself known, pushing through the haze of his minds high. Kid lifted himself off the lank man, propping himself up on his elbows. Law was out for the count. He allowed himself a last look at Laws relaxed face. Those dark lashes were complimented by his dark skin tone, and his lips were slightly parted as soundless exhales and inhales passed through them. Absent mindedly, he brushed off the traces of sweat from Law's brow with his thumb. 'Yep, I'm a fucking genius.'

Feeling quite proud with himself, Kid flopped back onto his side of the bed. Moving to lay on his side, Kid quickly cleaned off his chest with his blue pants and repeated the process with Law. The red-haired captain glanced left to right, abruptly leaning over the side of the bed so he could chuck the soiled pajama bottoms underneath of the bed. Killer would kill him if he found out.

A giant yawn escaped out of his chest, reminding the red-haired supernova of the ungodly hour of the night. Kid settled back against the pillows as he pulled the covers over the both of them. Without much thought, he threw an arm over Law, drawing the small body closer to his. Any plans of escaping to the purple couch had evaporated long ago.

Stars twinkled overhead in a cloudless sky, causing the nearly still water to glitter. The Kid Pirates ship gently swayed on the night ocean. Its metal walls softly creaked, but went unnoticed as all of the inhabitants finally settled in for sleep. Well, most of them were sleeping.

+~O~+

**Sub Authors note:**

**What? Don't look at me like that! You are just as perverted as I am for reading this!**

***Runs away to hide under a bed* (not the bed with those nasty pajama pants).**


	8. Chapter 8

**Insomniac, Alcoholic, and Insane**

+~O~+

Ch.8

A sudden break in cloud coverage allowed bright light to bask the Kid Pirate's ship in a warm glow. The sunlight shined through a porthole window, illuminating an otherwise dark room. One of the occupants groaned, the change in light disturbing him from his slumber, and shifted around in the twisted sheets. Sighing in contentment, the man drew the smooth warmth closer against his chest and belly, and buried his pale face further into the warm object to block out the light. Vague musk still lingered in the room, but the smell seemed to be losing potency, at least to the redhead's nose.

'Wait, light? Even though I constantly threaten them not to wake me up early, the crew never lets me sleep in this late.' The sunlight was too strong to be early morning light, and there was no way he had slept until evening, so what? Had he really slept till noon? If he listened hard enough, the sound of seagulls and the crew scuffling around the metal ship could be heard. While he still did not really want to get up, the sudden low gurgle of his stomach reminded him that he hadn't eaten anything since dealing with a certain psychopathic doctor.

Two burnt orange eyes slowly blinked themselves open, their owner reluctantly resigning himself to facing the day. The first thing Eustass Kid noticed was the warmth pressed against his body apparently belonged to someone sharing his bed. 'That's funny, I don't remember bringing any chick into my room last night,' he thought, staring blearily at the darkly tanned body for a moment. The red-haired pirate sat up, yawned, and rubbed at his face before looking back at the other occupant of his bead.

'…Trafalgar…?' Kid sat on the bed in stupefied silence. If it had been a smoking hot broad in his bed, then maybe the gears of his brain wouldn't be processing at the speed of snail. However, that didn't change the fact that there was a very much naked man passed out in his bed. Even as the pirate captain was slowly coming to accept that what he was seeing was not a delusion generated by booze or a brain damaging level of a hangover, a single thought dawned on him. It was his fault. Kid was the one responsible for making Law pass out. And was he _snuggling_?!'Oh my shit. Oh my goddamn fucking shit! Holy Oda on crack fucking shit!'

Only now was the horrible reality and the implications- no- the ultimate repercussions - of those sinfully amazing actions of what they- no- what _he_ had done last night finally sinking in like a shock of cold water rushing through his ear straight to his brain, down his throat, and closing its icy clawed fist around his heart- and oh sweet Oda what did he do!? He had taken advantage of a sick man, a mentally unstable nutcase, a deranged pirate captain, a fellow supernova, the Surgeon of Death, _Trafalgar_ fucking _Law_!

Eustass Kid threw the sheets off, rushing out of the bed in such a hurry he slipped on the beds comforter and landed flat on his face. No sooner had the face plant occurred then he was already springing back to his feet in panic induced speed. 'Clothes,' Kid snapped to himself mentally. He made a mad sprint for his dresser, kicking an occasional wrench aside and dirty clothes out of the way in his desperate crusade for pants. Yanking a pair of boxers on, Kid began shoving his legs into a pair of his usual lava lamp splotch patterned pants, all the while turning back to face the bed. In his frenzy like movements, he stumbled back onto the floor as he remembered Law still was ass naked under the covers. 'Shiiiiiit!'

With his pants barely around his hips, Kid scuttled on his hands and knees over to the plaid pajama bottoms that had somehow ended up on the floor. Snatching the pants up, the red-haired supernova bolted upright. A fleeting thought, which seemed to make his already rapidly beating heart jerk erratically, caused him to shoot an overly intense glare towards the door. With a quick snap of his powers, Kid made sure all the locks on the door were locked.

Looking back down at the unresponsive face of Law, his heart seemed to speed up to a point it was almost painful and white was beginning to flood into the corner of his vision. It was a miracle his insane scrambling to get dressed hadn't woken him up. More than once there had been loud bangs whenever a metal wrench hit the wall, or he had tripped to the floor in his haste. 'Holy fuck, it's a miracle I haven't been caught.' However, the the danger of being discovered was still very real. 'Shit, Trafalgar is going to be pissed when he wakes up…' Kid began gnawing on his finger nails, but after realizing what he was doing, he quickly yanked his hand away from his mouth and settled for combing his pale fingers through his fiery locks.

'Whatever, I was supposed to get him to sleep and I did…' But even then, Kid couldn't fool himself into thinking he hadn't done anything wrong. His eyes flicked over to the relaxed expression of Law, and he groaned again as an unwanted feeling of anxiety slowly crept its way inside of his chest. Pushing that aside, Kid distracted himself by putting the borrow pajama bottoms back onto the tattooed supernova thin hips. For some reason that process took longer than usual. It wasn't like he was distracted with dying or a hot mess passed out in his bed. Still Law didn't wake, or even as much as stir. Just when Kid was sure he couldn't feel any worse about the situation, now he started to worry.

"Trafalgar?" Kid poked one of the caramel colored cheeks with his index finger, studying Law's face for any movement. Nothing. 'Uh oh.'

The pale captain resorted to trying several different methods of waking up the unconscious man. He tried peeling Law's eyelids back, clapping his hands in front of his face, yelling –though not too loud so he would not draw his crews attention-, somewhat gently slapping his cheeks, grabbing his nose, a wet willy, a purple nurple, tickling – he knew how much Law hated that-, and even splashing cold water onto his face. Still, nothing.

'Oh shit! I fucked him to death! No no no, that's not true, he is still breathing.'Eustass Kid stared at the gentle rise and fall of the doctor's tattooed chest for a moment, fighting back the feeling of anxiety that had worked its way up from his chest and into his throat. 'Maybe he is just sleeping. It would make sense that he needs more sleep.' Nodding to himself, Kid allowed that small thought to comfort his conscious.

Sighing heavily, Kid rubbed at his face, thinking to himself, 'What a goddamn mess. What was I thinking? Hell I can't even call it thinking. Maybe deranged psychopathic idiocy is contagious.' His eyes fell back on Law's face, watching as the slightly parted lips emitted quiet exhales and inhales. '…I'm scum, I took advantage of a drunken, deranged, idiot.' While Kid would freely admit he did some pretty shitty things to people, those guys usually had it coming. Trafalgar didn't. Hell, at Sabaody, the surgeon had even stabbed a pacifista in the head when it was about to get shot with a laser beam. While that had stolen some of his thunder, Kid privately admired the badass way Law had handled a robot of doom.

'I need some coffee, or booze, _something_!' Fastening his usual belt around to secure his pants, Kid glanced at his fur coat, but the thick fur was still drying. Grumbling in annoyance, the red-haired captain looked over his shoulder as he made his way to the door, giving Law one last look.

+~O~+

The Kid Pirates on deck watched as their captain emerged from his room. They each called out a loud greeting that seemed to go largely ignored by Eustass 'Captain' Kid, who was scuffling across the deck n a zombie-like manner. His spikey red mane of hair, unimpeded by the usual goggles, stuck out messily like a mini explosion of flames. They all flinched when their captain suddenly halted. Two vermillion discs, underlined with dark marks, slowly rolled in the direction, burning with something they had never seen in their captain's eyes before. Kid seemed to mutter something, grumbling lowly to himself, and briefly raised his hand in a form of greeting as he began shuffling towards the kitchen.

When the form of their captain disappeared back into their metallic ship, a newer member of the crew ventured to voice, "Geesh, we didn't even wake him up today."

+~O~+

Killer looked up from his place at the kitchen table, which was shoved into corner, as his captain suddenly stomped in. Apparently Kid had not seen him, so the blond supernova settled for watching. His eyebrows arched when the red-haired man banged open the cupboard doors, rattling several things as his pale arms searched for something. While he normally would have greeted his captain by now, a morbid curiosity took over, so his eyes remained fixated on the strange activity.

A sound of satisfaction sounded from Kid, who pulled a large tin from a shelf. He scanned the kitchen until his eyes fell on a sizeable mug on the top shelf. Soon the red-haired pirate had the tin popped open, and was scooping up generous amounts of dark coffee grinds into the mug. Kid gave the sink a brief glance, but ended up rummaging through the shelves again, looking for a certain something.

Feeling rather befuddled, Killer continued to watch in silence as his captain dug through the kitchen supplies. 'Is he trying to make coffee?' Kid would need water, or milk, if he wanted to make anything with those coffee grinds. When Captain Kid finally found what he was looking for, Killer slapped a hand over his face and shook his head. Still he said nothing, as his captain began mixing the coffee grinds with vodka and cream. He looked up at his companion, who quickly muffled a chuckle behind his hand. 'I'm glad someone finds my captains _choices_ amusing.' Killer raised a finger to his lips, making a quiet shushing noise that Kid would not hear. A small smile graced his features as the man sitting across from him shrugged his thin shoulders apologetically while giving him a sheepish smile in return.

Kid, who was still oblivious to the two other men's presence, picked up his alcohol infused coffee and tilted his head back as he downed the mug in one go.

Killer's eyes widened as he watched his captain chug down the mug full of vodka mixed with coffee grinds. His companion merely winced and shoved a spoonful of ice cream into his mouth.

"Aahhh…." Kid breathed out in satisfaction, slamming the mug down onto the counter and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. 'I'm a fucking genius.' His craving for alcohol and coffee had been sated in one ingenious creation! The sudden growl of his stomach ended his self-praise, reminding him he was still hungry. Not only had that, but the feeling of guilt had not been washed away with his drink.

Both of the men glanced at each other as the red-haired supernova finished his 'coffee' with a loud sigh, only to begin rummaging around in the freezer. Their jaws dropped, slight noises of disbelief escaping their mouths, as Eustass Kid emerged from the freezer with a large container in his hands.

With both of his hands currently occupied with his icy prize, Kid kicked the door shut and stretched one hand out towards a drawer, attracting a metal spoon to his hands. He pulled the lid of the bucket-like contained off with his teeth, spitting it onto the floor, and stabbed at the contents with his spoon. As he was turning towards the table to sit down and enjoy his 'meal', Kid lifted a spoonful of the stuff to his mouth, closing his eyes as he let out a very pleased moan around his mouthful that verged on being inappropriately erotic. "Mmmmmnnnnn…" 'Fuck yeah, rocky road ice cream.' The chocolate, no the gooey marshmallows, god the whole fucking mixture that was the chocolate flavored ice cream was almost as good as an orgasm.

No, a grown man who was able to enjoy his ice cream to the degree of such pleasure that he was completely raptured by the creamy texture that cascaded over his taste buds, the gooey marshmallow that melted on his tongue, and the rich chocolate that filled his mouth with a warm glow of cocoa was not weird in anyway. Definitely not.

When Kid finally opened his eyes, he halted in his path towards the table, which was occupied by two men staring at him. Spoons frozen in midair, and mouths gaping half open, they both had paused in their ice cream eating. One of them he recognized as his first mate, who had actually taken his mask off for once. There was a bucket of vanilla and toffee flavored ice cream, which he was sharing with a man he had never seen before. They were sharing that one bucket of ice cream between them and their two spoons. Sharing was nice and all, but didn't they realize they were also sharing saliva cooties? Gross.

The man sitting beside Killer had deep midnight blue hair, and bright bronze colored eyes. A spoonful of ice cream slid off of the blue-haired man's spoon, landing on the table with a pronounced splat that somehow went ignored by all three men. For a long moment the red-haired captain just stood there, with his spoon halfway between his mouth and the bucket. Seconds ticked by, melding into what felt like over a minute spent in dead awkward silence.

Kid slowly raised another spoonful of ice cream to his mouth, working the lump of creamy chocolate around on his tongue as he continued staring at the two men without saying a word. After that mouthful, and a good amount of more staring, he seemed to make his mind up. In a shuffling walk, he made his way over to the table, dumping himself into the chair across from Killer and the other man.

"…Good morning, Captain," Killer hesitantly greeted, lowering his spoon back to his frozen treat.

"Mhh…" Kid grunted around his mouthful of ice cream, staring at his first mate with a blank expression. Without the mask on, he could see the numerous lines of scars that appeared through the blonde stubble, arcing their way from his jawline and up to the shaggy fringe that obscured most of his face. Just barely he could make out the glassy blue eyes staring at him skeptically. Kid's own rust hued eyes eventually landed on the blue-haired man, who flinched and stared at him nervously.

"Um…good morning Mister Captain Eustass, sir," the blue-haired man said quietly, fiddling with the spoon in his hands, as he peered from it and the pale captain timidly. He felt his anxiety start to climax to unbearable levels as the rival captain simply continued to study him with a straight face.

"Killer."

"Yes, Captain?"

"Who is that," Kid deadpanned, pointing at the blue-haired man with his spoon. He dug his spoon back into the bucket and ate another mouthful as he waited for his first mate to respond. When he had formed his crew, Kid had taken the upmost care into memorizing each and every face. He knew his men like the deck of his ship. It was more than a matter of security or whatever. This was something closer to a matter of pride. Kid knew every one of his shipmates, and this man was not one of them.

"Umm…this is Penguin, the Heart Pirate from before."

Kid snorted around his ice cream, almost choking on both the frozen desert and his spoon. Eyes wide as saucers, he looked at the blue-haired man, and back to Killer. Slowly a frown pulled the corners of his mouth down, and he suddenly voiced, "Are you sure, the penguin-hatted guy had a penguin hat…" This blue-haired dude clearly did not have a penguin hat.

Repressing the urge to sigh, Killer reaffirmed his point with a steady tone. "Yes, Captain, I am sure."

"Hmm," Kid hummed in response. His thoughts started to drift away from the two men sharing the table with him. His brain spiraled around last night's events. Kid hated to admit it, but he might have lost a bit of control last night. But he couldn't help it. Not when Trafalgar had been so...so… fucking _something_. Like how Law had made that tiny whimper when he had finally come…that was so cute. Or the slight twitches the doctor's thin legs had given whenever he found that special spot. Then there was the fact that he was the one responsible for all of that. Should he be guilty, or proud? Maybe both. Hell, he was still a fucking genius.

Narrowing his eyes, Killer continued eating his toffee and vanilla flavored desert as he observed his captain, who was still eating his bucketful of rocky road. The blond supernova was trying to fathom the odd actions of his captain this morning. Kid looked exceedingly pale, and not only due to the strange absence of purple that normally covered his lips. His face kept doing strange things too. One moment Kid would be looking off into space as he daydreamed, and then the next moment there would be a weird look in his eyes. Kid had even _smiled _for a few terrifying seconds. Just plain freaky.

Then a cold realization dawned on Killer.

"Captain…you only eat ice cream when you are feeling guilty. What did you do?" Killer watched as captain choked on the desert, all the while glaring at him like he had just told him he had on pink lipstick, which had completely floored Kid the last time he had told him that. That had been great, not that Killer enjoyed messing with his captain's mind or anything. But, it was kind of funny that Kid was so sensitive about his lipstick.

Penguin arched one dark eyebrow, but other than that, he kept silent by shoving more toffee flavored ice cream into his face.

Kid, who was red in the face from choking, narrowed his eyes at Killer. "What are you talking about? Can't I just eat ice cream when I feel like it?

"No."

"Grr… what the fuck Killer!? It's your fault! You're a bad influence with your ice cream scarfing ways!"

Killer gasped, looking highly offended that _he _was the one being called the bad influence! It didn't help when Penguin was choking on ice cream, trying his hardest not to laugh, and failing miserably. Kid, who was sticking his tongue out at him, just made it worse. Eventually the normally elegant speaker that was Killer managed to stammer, "H-How can you say that Captain!?"

"Because it's true." Kid narrowed his eyes, giving his first mate a hard look as he shoved another spoonful in his mouth. That's when the red-haired supernova noticed something odd about the state of his first mate and Penguin. Killer took pride in his great blond mane of hair, and this morning it was looking particularly unkempt and wild. He had not even bothered to put on a shirt and was just sitting there in wrinkly blue jeans. Can blue jeans even wrinkle? Not to mention his mask was off, which Killer never took off, even when if a crew mates asked him to. And it was off in front of some damned Heart Pirate he had decided to swap spit germs and ice cream with. Then Eustass Kid's eyes involuntarily widened, becoming riveted on said Heart Pirate. His hat was gone, and his jumpsuit had been rolled down, exposing the skin around his wife beater. Dark crescent shape marks and patches of bruises littered the blue-haired man's neck in suspicious teeth-like patterns. Skipping over the gray tank top, Kid's then discovered a white bag of frozen vegetables, which Penguin was sitting on top of.

Murmuring more to himself than any of the other men in his room, Kid slowly voiced, "It was his ribs that had been hurt…not his ass." Pausing for a moment, the Kid Pirate captain looked up at Killer, who had gone rigid at his words. Then he glanced to Penguin, who was turning the color of ice and starting to shake like he was just cold. "Why is he sitting on the carrots?"

"Umm…because he was thawing them out so I could eat them later?" Killer offered the lame excuse weakly, glancing side long at his companion. Penguin was frozen in place, looking like the world was about to end. Hell, it probably was when his captain was done with them. He slowly stared turned his glass blue gaze back to the red-haired man. Kid's face had morphed slowly from shock to appalled, and now settled to a foreboding glower.

'Oh shit, he found us out,' Killer inwardly cursed, starting to sweat because of the look on his captain's darkening expression. Suddenly the red-haired man stood up with a loud scrape of his chair. Just as the blond was sure that his captain was going to explode, cursing him out for perverse mutiny, Kid fixed him with a deadly serious expression and pointed a finger right at his face.

"I told you. You are a bad influence," Kid rumbled darkly. Without another word or glance at the two men, who were sitting in eye twitching shock, he picked up his bucket of ice cream and started walking away from them.

Penguin and Killer watched in dumbstruck awe as Eustass Kid shuffled his way back to the kitchen door. They flinched when the pale captain stopped, glaring over his shoulder as he suddenly said, "You could have let Penguin-hat sit on those damned peas." In a more indignant tone he added, "Don't go wasting perfectly fine carrots on somebody's ass!" With that said, he slammed the door, leaving his pervert first mate and that seducing penguin-hat man in speechless shock.

Slowly Killer turned towards penguin, solemnly asking, "Is your captain's insanity contagious?"

Penguin sighed, placing a hand over his face. 'Which one of them is the bad influence again?'

+~O~+

Eustass Kid found himself back in his room, perching on his purple couch as he watched the doctor in his bed sleeping peacefully. One of his hands was embedded in his crown of fiery locks, the other having its nails gnawed on by his nervous mouth. No, that wasn't creepy at all, because his thoughts were not just there, but everywhere. Now he had the disturbing issue that both he and his first mate had apparently dabbled their fingers into the Heart Pirates figurative cookie jar. How could Killer even do that!? Ok maybe he was being a little insensitive. The man was only human, despite that robot mask he wore like his first face.

Then there was that tiny nagging thought of how Law had _still_ not woken up. It was now evening and there had been no change in the tattooed doctor's condition at all. Well, that was if you didn't count the dark marks under his eyes losing a bit of territory. Even that small sign of recovery brought a brief feeling of relief. But it was like trying to sooth a burn with spit. It just didn't work well.

What if Law never woke up? What if this was some kind of coma? What if Law woke up, only to remember the not so consensual and mildly unmoral form of aid Kid had pretty much forced on him?

Plus Kid was pretty sure that Law could not eat if he was still sleeping. How long had it been since he ate anything? It had to be too long. No one should be that thin. 'I need help…' There was that undeniable need for a doctor, but the red-haired pirate knew he had pretty much burned that bridge when he assaulted Law into this coma-like sleep. Those Heart Pirates would bust a nut if they found ever out. There had to be some way.

Then a thought roared into the red-haired supernova's head. It was beautifully insane with the intellectual ingenuity behind it. '_That bear_!' Bepo would help. Kid rose to his feet, standing on up on his couch, and clenched his fists in anticipation for certain victory. 'Not only will it make sure Law does not die, but fixing his captain will put the bear on his good side!' All he had to do was go over to the Heart Pirates little yellow boat submarine thingy and drag him over. Sure he had yelled at the bear to fuck off or something, but the opportunity to save his captain would be too good to resist, right?

'I'm a fucking genius!'

+~O~+

**Sub Authors Note:**

**Ok...I might have gone a little insane. But it seems to be contagious. So...xD Thanks for your continued support and reviews :)**

**-Echo**


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